Love and Summertime
by padasigh
Summary: Finn meets Rachel in the summer when he moves to NYC with his brother. Is this real or just a summer fling? Updates every other day.
1. Chapter 1

Rachel Berry sat in the living room of her apartment in silence, watching the television with a blank stare. She could feel the temperature of the room rising by the minute and groaned. Santana Lopez, her roommate, had an icepack on her forehead and a wet, cold washcloth draped across her tan stomach. Santana was wearing a bikini, confined to the apartment for the rest of the day, and Rachel was dressed in a white camisole with her shortest pair of light pink shorts. Rachel stood up from her spot on the couch reluctantly and grabbed her light pink flipflops before turning back to Santana.

"Do you want me to pick you up anything while I'm out? I'm going to the store to grab something frozen." Rachel said, frowning at the weather. She really didn't want to leave, but if she stalled any longer, the heat would just rise even more.

"No thanks, Rachel. I think I'm just gonna take a cold shower. Go have fun, we can pick up food later tonight. Go make a new friend. I heard all of the next-year NYADA and NYU students are heading by here to pick out apartments. At least, the classy ones who really don't want to be stuck in dorms are." Santana commented, scrunching her nose up slightly. Rachel just shrugged and went to the mirror to check her makeup before grabbing her purse and heading out the door.

Santana was right. There were tons of next-year-students on their block alone. The one person who caught Rachel's eye was her best friend from NYADA.

Rachel met Kurt Hummel on her first day in NYADA and they were instantaneously friends. He came from the same town Santana did, somewhere out in Ohio. Rachel was originally from the big apple, but she got along with them both famously. Rachel and Kurt grew closer as the year went by and Rachel had actually offered Kurt to come live with her and Santana, but he was living about a block away in an apartment with his NYU boyfriend, Blaine Anderson. Blaine had gone to high school about 2 hours away from Kurt, but they had been dating since their junior year of high school. Either way, Santana knew Blaine, as well. So, all four of them had become really great friends and pretty much did everything together.

That was why, when Rachel spotted Kurt tugging on a tall, rather handsome boy's arm, she was automatically shocked. That is, until Blaine was spotted and he wrapped his arm around Kurt's waist. But, that still left the question: _Who's that guy walking with them?_

Kurt must have seen Rachel through the mess of people cluttering the sidewalk, because now he was heading towards her, dragging Blaine and the mystery man with him.

"Rachel! Hey! Rachel, this is my brother, Finn. Well, stepbrother." Kurt said, smiling at Rachel as he tugged Finn towards him. "Finn, this is my best friend, Rachel Berry. Santana is Rachel's roommate, actually."

Finn smiled at her politely, showing off a set of straight, shiny, white teeth. He was very handsome, in Rachel's opinion. He was much taller than Rachel, which wasn't her usual type, but it suited him well. He had brown hair that was spiked a little similarly to Kurt's, but it looked more rugged and muscular on him, while it looked stylish and classy on his brother. Finn had slight stubble, but not much, and a lean build. He also had a goofy half-smile gracing his features as he took in Rachel's appearance.

Rachel knew what her best features were and she flaunted them. Her skin was nice and tan, due to her beach day a few days ago and her hair had tons of natural highlights from the sun. She had dark, chocolate brown eyes that had a little bit of red in them, too, and she had nice, full lips. Rachel finally got curves her last year of high school and they flattered her petite figure well. Her legs were long and smooth and her eyebrows were perfectly plucked to perfection. It also helped that she got a mani-pedi last week with Santana.

"Hey Rachel, I'm Finn, it's nice to meet you. I hope Santana's softened up since high school, she used to be pretty rough." Finn said, shuddering slightly. Rachel giggled despite herself.

"Hey, you used to be pretty dense in high school, Finn. Things change," Blaine commented, standing up for his best friend.

"Oh, trust me, Anderson, I know. Kurt had the biggest crush on me sophomore year and now he barely takes his eyes off of you." Finn quipped. Kurt turned bright red from his spot next to Blaine, who was now failing to stifle a laugh.

"Don't get me started, Blaine Anderson, need I remind you of your gelled days?" Kurt asked, ruffling Blaine's loose, curly hair. Blaine immediately stopped laughing and smiled sheepishly up at Kurt before pecking him on the cheek, sweetly.

"Awww," Finn and Rachel chorused, smiling at the adorable couple. Kurt and Blaine both blushed and Kurt gave both Rachel and Finn a glare.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So, how's everyone in Ohio, Finn? Is Puckerman still a little delinquent?" Blaine asked Finn, who laughed and shook his head.

"Nope. Ever since the members of Fight Club graduated, Puck's been keeping to himself. He just got done with his freshman year of Lima Community College, actually. The dude's pretty proud of himself. Quinn's proud of him, too. They got back together a few months ago." Finn said, smiling. This caused Kurt to demand to know all of the McKinley relationship gossip.

Rachel watched them interact for a while, taking note of the names that she knew and the names that she didn't know so she could ask about them later. Rachel also got involved in a musical conversation with Finn while Kurt and Blaine discussed Blaine's old show choir group, The Warblers. Overall, Finn and Rachel were getting along quite well.

"Alright, Rachel, we better get going so we can unpack all of Finn's stuff at the apartment. He'll be starting NYU in the fall. He's gonna be a teacher. Why don't we all meet up at Blueberry Hill Café in a few hours? Santana, too. I'll text you guys with the details." Blaine suggested, clasping his hand with Kurt's.

"That sounds good to me. It was nice meeting you, Finn. I'll see you later." Rachel said, smiling shyly at Finn.

"Lovely meeting you, too, Rachel. See you at dinner," Finn said, smiling and-_was that a wink?!_- Winking at her, the goofy half-smile still gracing his defined features. Rachel blushed and waved back at the three of them before heading back to the apartment, not realizing that she hadn't gotten anything done and that she had only left for about 15 minutes.

"You're back early. I haven't even showered yet. And, look, you're blushing! Meet anyone special?" Santana asked, winking suggestively over her shoulder at Rachel.

"Possibly. Is there anything you can tell me about Kurt's brother, Finn?"


	2. Chapter 2

Finn walked back to Kurt and Blaine's apartment, thinking silently to himself as they talked to each other about decorations for the apartment. Suddenly, Finn was drawn back into the conversation when a certain name was brought up.

"We should really get Rachel's opinion on that kind of stuff once we tell everyone." Kurt whispered. Finn just _barely_ made out the words. He turned towards his brother with a look of confusion.

"Tell everyone what?" Finn asked. Blaine froze up by Kurt's side and Kurt looked like he wanted to kill Finn.

"The _one time_ you are paying attention to something! You have the worst timing, Finn Hudson." Kurt said, rolling his eyes.

"Are you going to tell him?" Blaine asked Kurt, his triangular eyebrows raised slightly. Kurt frowned and shook his head.

"Tell me what?" Finn demanded, feeling impatient.

"Blaine and I want to make the announcement in front of everyone, so we'll tell you when we head down to see everyone back in Lima."

Finn frowned.

"What about Rachel? How will she hear about it if you guys are going to Lima to tell everyone? She's not from Lima. She has no real reason to go." Finn claimed, frustrated that he was so confused. He thought he grew out of being confused in high school. He was more mature now.

"That's a good point, actually. Looks like you'll just have to ask her out by then." Blaine said. Kurt nodded in agreement. Finn thought he might choke on air. He wasn't _that_ obvious, was he?

Finn didn't mean to be that obvious, but he couldn't help it. Rachel was beautiful and charming and confident, so he was automatically attracted to her. Any straight man in their right mind would be attracted to her. Finn had expected that she had a boyfriend, but if Kurt and Blaine were trying to set them up, maybe that wasn't the case.

"Doesn't she have a boyfriend?" Finn asked, trying not to let his hope show in his voice.

"Nope. They broke up like three months ago, and he was an asshole in the first place. Fucking bastard. Chad was a slob, a drunk and a liar. I don't know what Rachel ever saw in him." Kurt stated, his nose crinkling in distaste. Blaine chuckled at him.

"He was an asshole, I'll give you that, but Chad _barely_ drank and _never_ lied. He was just selfish and rude. The main reason you hated him was because he accidentally stained your shirt with pasta sauce." Blaine said, wrapping his arm around Kurt and pulling himself closer to the taller man. Finn laughed.

"I did that with chocolate, once. I don't think I've ever been more frightened of you, Kurt." Finn recalled, smiling at his brother. Kurt huffed.

"I don't care if it was only pasta sauce, that shirt was _McQueen. _Finn, don't even bring that up. I was _livid_. It's not my fault that I like my nice clothes to be kept neat and stainless." Kurt said, pouting.

"I know, baby, I think it's adorable." Blaine quipped, smiling at Kurt mischievously.

"'_You're_ adorable,'" Kurt responded, smiling. "I remember that. I remember thinking that my heart was turning to goo."

"Guys? Back to the Rachel thing?" Finn said, interrupting their couple-moment. Kurt groaned.

"You guys will be perfect together, considering she interrupts us frequently." He muttered, glaring slightly at his taller brother.

"Seriously, Finn. Go for it. You guys would be cute together. You should ask her out tonight. On a date to the sushi place a few blocks away. If you want to start a conversation with her, think of everything that Kurt used to talk about in high school." Blaine said, smiling encouragingly.

"The only thing Kurt talked about in high school was you." Finn said, picking through his memories of Kurt in high school. Kurt flushed.

"That's not true! I mean, I talked about him a lot, but I talked about Broadway and music and stuff. Don't talk to her about clothing, it'll get you both nowhere. She's not really that into fashion. But Barbra Streisand is her idol, she loves the musical, 'Wicked,' and she could spend hours raving about music itself." Kurt said, still blushing as Blaine kissed him on the cheek.

"Alright. You really think I should ask her? What if she says no?" Finn said, now growing nervous. He really didn't think he could handle being rejected in front of other people. Especially not Santana Lopez. That would just be traumatizing. Kurt snorted, causing Blaine to let out his repressed giggle.

"You're almost as oblivious as I am," Blaine said, still giggling. Kurt full out laughed at this.

"What do you mean?" Finn asked, pushing his eyebrows together in confusion.

"Oh my gosh. Rachel was _totally_ flirting with you. I don't even think she knew she was doing it, actually. But we could tell she likes you. She played with her hair half the time you two talked, she blushed frequently for being Rachel and she looked at you like you were some kind of god. Rachel Berry likes you." Kurt said, still laughing slightly.

Finn nodded, ignoring their laughter. He was still very nervous, but the fact that they had confirmed that she liked him calmed his anxiety quite a bit.

* * *

After Santana was done sharing numerous stories about Finn, Rachel was pleasantly surprised.

Finn Hudson was the lead singer of their old glee club, which made Rachel automatically swoon. He was the star quarterback for most of his high school career, had many friends, stood up for everyone in the glee club at one time or another _and_ was completely available. Santana also told Rachel some things that made her question his motives and brainpower, but after meeting him today, she had sensed that Finn had grown up quite a bit and had also gotten much smarter. Now came the hard part.

"So, should I ask him out?" Rachel asked Santana, wringing her hands nervously. Santana contemplated this for a few minutes until she finally answered.

"I want to see how he acts now before you do anything, Rachel. I don't want you getting hurt." Santana stated. Rachel smiled at her warmly before hugging the dark haired girl.

"Thanks, Tana. That's really sweet of you. I'm going to go get ready, we have to meet them at the usual place around 5:30. Hurry up and get dressed, we only have 45 minutes and I _know_ you and how long it takes you to shower." Rachel said, releasing the girl from her embrace. Santana rolled her eyes, smiling slightly, and headed off to her room, leaving Rachel to go to her own corner of the apartment.

* * *

Rachel was super excited to go have dinner with everyone, but she was now faced with a dilemma.

She had nothing to wear.

It's not like she didn't have clothes that were clean or anything; all of her clothes were freshly washed. The problem was that Rachel had one of the _worst_ fashion senses in the world. So, trying to remember what Kurt had paired up for her a few weeks ago, she raided her closet for about 10 minutes before giving up and calling Kurt.

"Hi Rachel. Get out your light green sundress and pair it with those cute, white Steve Madden's that I bought you last week. Wear your light wash jean jacket over the dress and bring your white purse. Curl your hair. Don't overdo it on the makeup, either. Soft pink lipstick will work perfectly. No eyeshadow, it would be a little too much. Bye Rachel." Kurt said before hanging up. Rachel breathed out a sigh of relief. It was really helpful to have someone with fashion sense as your best friend.

Rachel got out the exact outfit Kurt had described to her, put on some light makeup, curled her hair, and grabbed her white purse before heading out to the living room to wait for Santana.

"Wow, Rachel. Kurt did a nice job. I was getting the feeling that all you were going to wear was colored shorts and tank tops with flipflops. This is a nice change." Santana said, entering the room. She had on a blue bodycon dress and a pink cutoff sweatshirt over it. She paired it all up with black heels and a black leather purse. Rachel rolled her eyes at her before motioning towards the door.

"Shall we?" Rachel asked dramatically. Santana snorted.

"We shall."

* * *

Finn was anxious. They had just arrived at the café, but he heard Kurt on the phone with Rachel earlier, giving her an outfit to wear, so he knew Rachel would be stunning. The fact that she would be looking great wasn't really easing Finn's tension.

Kurt sat down in a large booth beside Blaine and cuddled close to him before handing them each a menu. Neither Kurt nor Blaine actually looked at theirs, already knowing what they were getting. When Finn went to flip open his own menu, Blaine's voice cut through his train of thought.

"You'll be ordering their ribs." Blaine spoke up, nodding at Finn. Finn crinkled his eyebrows together in confusion.

"How do you know that already?" Finn asked. Kurt snorted.

"If you don't want to order their ribs, that's fine, but every time Blaine and I come here, we always look at the ribs and think of you. You'd love them, actually. They aren't as messy as normal ribs, either, so I suggest the ribs for you."

Blaine nodded at Kurt's answer, obviously agreeing.

"And, I just thought that you looked stressed enough as it is. They have a lot of food options, and I know that the first time I came here, I thought my brain would explode." Blaine said, raising his eyebrows. Kurt agreed with him, too.

"Oh. Thanks, dude. Ribs it is." Finn said, relieved that he didn't have to add any more stress to himself. Suddenly, Kurt grabbed Finn's hand, catching Finn's attention.

"Calm down. She's going to say yes. Stop freaking yourself out and stop thinking for a little while." Kurt said, his head resting on Blaine's shoulder. Finn nodded, feeling a little better.

"Thanks, little bro. I owe you one."

"Finn, for the last time, I am 3 months older than you. Just because I am of normal height and you are Frankenteen doesn't make me the little brother." Kurt quipped, glaring at Finn while Blaine chuckled silently by his side. Before Finn had time to respond, the front door to the shop swung open, revealing Rachel and Santana.

Finn could almost feel his mouth dropping. Rachel was dressed nicely, but that wasn't what caught his attention. She looked absolutely perfect with almost no makeup on. She had washed off most of her other makeup and looked much more natural, and it was very refreshing.

Kurt and Blaine were snickering from across the table and they snapped Finn back to reality.

_This is going to be a long dinner, _Finn thought as they Kurt and Blaine got up to greet everyone.

* * *

**Author's Note: **

**Hope you guys liked that chapter! If there's anything that you want to see happen, send a review and I'll take it into consideration. I have a few things that I'm looking into for this plot, but I'm always open to new ideas.**

**To all of my reviewers and followers and favorites: THANK YOU SO MUCH. I'm really new to this entire fanfiction world, so I almost died of happiness when I saw that people actually liked my stuff. Thanks guys:)**


	3. Chapter 3

Rachel walked in to the café with Santana, immediately being attacked with hugs from Kurt and Blaine. She smiled and greeted them both before turning towards Finn, her breath hitching as she took him in. He was cleaned up now, wearing more decent clothing and had obviously taken a shower and restyled his hair. It took a moment for Rachel to compose herself, but once she did, she blushed profusely until she noticed that Finn had been staring at her, as well.

He was still staring at her, actually. This alone made Rachel blush even more. Kurt cleared his voice, realizing that Finn hadn't moved from staring at Rachel and the noise made Finn jerk a little before gaining some control.

"Uh, hi Rachel. You look really nice." Finn said, standing up to greet her, that ever-familiar crooked smile taking over his face again. Rachel blushed once more and smiled at him shyly.

"Thank you. You clean up nicely, too." Rachel said, gaining some of her confidence again. Santana snickered from behind Rachel, drawing all of their attention.

"Will you two stop eyefucking so I can say hello to Finnocence?" Santana asked, rolling her eyes at them. Kurt looked like he was holding in laughter and Blaine snorted loudly, causing Kurt to let go of some of his own giggles. Finn ignored them and gave Santana a hug.

"Nice to see you again, Satan." Finn said, earning more laughter from Blaine and Kurt. Rachel also let out a soft giggle, which made Finn's heart jump a little and he realized that he wanted to be the reason for that laugh all the time. Santana hugged Finn back and smiled at him when he released her.

"You've lost some weight, Lumps. Lookin' good."

"Thank you. I think it was caused by my 3rd growth spurt that I got last year." Finn recalled. Santana snorted.

"Jesus, you really are Frankenteen. How's everyone in Lima? How is Brittany doing?" Santana's voice shook at her last question and she bit her lip. Blaine, who was standing between Santana and Kurt, clasped her hand reassuringly. Santana nodded slightly and smiled sadly at him before turning back to Finn.

"She's still in community college, studying to become a veterinarian. She'll be working mainly with cats. I think she's still a little shaken up, but she's doing better. A little lonely, but other than that, she's doing pretty well." Finn replied, sending her a look that said they would chat later on about the entire situation. Rachel watched as they all interacted and sent Santana an encouraging smile while Finn was reassuring Santana that she was doing fine, which was returned with a grateful nod.

They all sat down now, realizing that they had been standing around the table for a good 5 minutes. Blaine was at the end, followed by Kurt in the middle and then Santana next to the window. That left Finn and Rachel to their own side of the booth. Rachel slid in before Finn, taking the spot closest to the window and smiled at Finn as he sat down next to her.

* * *

They kept light small talk through most of the meal, but Rachel had noticed that Kurt and Blaine weren't really talking at all, having their own conversation with their eyes. She watched them as they communicated with each other through glances and eyebrow raising, amazed by their strong connection. Suddenly, Kurt nodded sharply, kissed Blaine on the cheek and gestured towards the rest of the table, who were all watching them at this point, each of them completely amazed at the couple's interactions with each other. Blaine smiled at Kurt with love-eyes before facing the group.

"Kurt and I were going to tell you all this when we all are going to Lima this weekend, but neither of us can really hold it in any longer, and it isn't like Burt and Carole don't already know, so what's the harm in telling our closest friends? Okay, so, I'm not sure how none of you have noticed it, but I guess you don't really look at either of our hands very much. Kurt and I are engaged. I proposed to him a few weeks ago while we were using my family's summer home in the middle of the city. We're getting married!" Blaine exclaimed, grasping Kurt's hand and smiling at him with adoration. Kurt smiled back at him before resting his head on Blaine's shoulder as he looked up at his fiancé.

Rachel squealed loudly, Santana smiled and congratulated both of them and Finn just gave them both a happy, proud look.

"That's awesome, guys. Hey! Now I have _another_ brother! Sick!" Finn said excitedly. Blaine grinned widely at him and they both shouted, "Brothers!" at the top of their lungs, drawing lots of attention to them and eliciting an eyeroll from Kurt.

"I'm super excited for you, Kurt and Blaine. You two will make the cutest husbands ever. Oh! Have you already got it planned? Can I see?!" Rachel asked, clapping her hands happily. Kurt smiled widely back at her.

"Actually, I need your help for the floral arrangements. You may suck at fashion when it comes to clothing, but your floral designs and color pallets are really nice. I'm also going to need you and Santana to help me pick out the bridesmaid's dresses, if you guys don't mind." Kurt said, looking back and forth between Santana and Rachel. Santana smiled at him and pulled him into hug.

"Of course we'll help you, Kurt. I'm actually honored that King Gay himself wants my help with anything fashion-related." Santana said, grinning at him. Kurt smiled back before turning to Rachel, who looked like she was close to tears.

"My Gaylinda is getting married and he wants my help. I'm so happy for you, Kurt." Rachel said, sniffling lightly. Finn watched Rachel with awe, relishing in how wonderfully _passionate_ she was. It was a great quality to have, in Finn's eyes, and he smiled at her when she caught his gaze. Rachel smiled back warmly, and just as Finn was about to ask her out, Blaine interrupted again.

"Finn, Kurt and I want you to be one of our best men. Cooper is going to be one, also. We're also going to ask Mike, Puck, my best friend Wes and my other best friend David to be our groomsmen." Blaine said, grinning at Finn, who nodded back eagerly.

"Rachel and Santana, we want you to be our maids of honor. Tina, Mercedes, Quinn and one of the other girls will be our bridesmaids, but we haven't figured out the last one just yet." Kurt added, eliciting a squeal from Rachel and a touched smile from Santana.

"Thank you guys so much. Oh, and, try to keep it to yourselves. We want to tell the rest of them next weekend." Blaine spoke up as the check arrived. All three of them nodded loyally before they all broke off into random conversation. Finn decided to take this time to ask Rachel out on a date.

"Uh, Rachel?" Finn asked, grabbing her attention. She looked up at him, smiling brightly.

"I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to go with me to get sushi tomorrow night? Like, on a date?" Finn asked, scratching his neck like he normally did when he was nervous. Rachel's face lit up even more, if that was possible.

"I would love to!" Rachel replied, smiling as her brown eyes melted into Finn's. Finn grinned back at her, inwardly fist pumping himself.

"Oh, look, Rachel's got herself a date! Frankenteen and Hobbit #2. Hmm. It might just become my new OTP." Santana stated smugly, grinning at Rachel's blush.

"I ship it," Kurt snickered, snuggling closer to Blaine's side.

"Finchel forever!" Blaine exclaimed, raising his fists in the air proudly, taking Kurt's intertwined hand with him.

"Very funny, guys, really, you're a riot." Finn deadpanned, earning a giggle from Rachel. He smiled triumphantly at the musical laughter before turning his attention back to the conversation, feeling a rush of relief and happiness wash over him.

* * *

The next morning, Santana was going to visit her friend who lived a few hours away, so she had left early that morning, leaving the entire apartment to Rachel, who woke up with a pounding headache and a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She groaned before rolling out of bed to grab her phone, seeing that she had a new text message.

**Finn: Hey, I can't wait for our date tonight:) What time do you want me to pick you up?**

Rachel sighed in frustration with her body. She rarely ever got sick, and based on her symptoms, it was only the 24 hour bug, but she still wouldn't be able to make her date without throwing up on Finn, which would not be ideal.

**Rachel: I woke up with the stomach bug:( Can we reschedule for tomorrow night instead? It should be out of my system by that time.**

**Finn: What's your address? I have a better idea..**

Rachel frowned at his response out of confusion, but gave him the address anyway.

**Finn: Thanks, see you in a few...(;**

**Rachel: But I'm sick!**

**Finn: I'm coming to take care of you. Santana mentioned yesterday that she was leaving in the morning, Kurt and Blaine are going to the mall all day, and you need someone to help you get better. Plus, I really want to spend time with you, so I don't mind.**

Rachel swooned, but realized how awful she looked and how nauseas she felt, so she replied quickly.

**Rachel: Thank you... That's really sweet:) but, really, I look like crap and might end up puking. We can always reschedule..**

**Finn: I don't care. Come answer your door in a few seconds.**

Rachel's eyes widened as she heard a knock on the front door immediately after receiving the text message, and she raced to the front door, despite her upset stomach and migrane.

"Finn! I'm sick! What are you doing here?"

"I already explained that to you when we were texting. Stop worrying, you look amazing for being sick. I brought you medicine and food. When you texted me back, I was at the store grabbing some milk, but I can just pick it up on my way home." Finn said, smiling at the sick girl. Rachel huffed slightly but let him inside, internally sighing with happiness.

"I can't believe I got sick. I _never_ get sick. I have been sick 2 times since my senior year of high school. This is insane." Rachel grumbled, tossing herself on the couch and wrapping up in a blanket. Finn gave her his goofy half-grin again, making her blush.

"You're pretty cute when you're sick, actually." Finn commented from the kitchen where he was making Rachel some tea. She blushed even harder at this.

"You're pretty cute when you're taking care of me. And I think it's really sweet of you to go out of your way for someone you barely know." Rachel replied. Finn shrugged and smiled his signature smile again.

"I want to get to know you, and my mom always said that people let out the real them whenever their sick or drunk, so this is actually pretty convenient." Finn responded.

"That's true. But I'm a clingy drunk, which is not attractive. I guess the sickness really _is_ convenient." Rachel said.

"Alright, Rachel Berry," Finn said a few minutes later, entering the living room with a cup of tea for Rachel. "Let's get you better."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**OHHH YAYYYY SICKNESS!**

**I'm a sucker for fanfics where there are sick people and then their partners come over to take care of them, so I'll probably be using this in my other fanfiction, as well. I normally don't write Finchel fanfiction, so I'm not sure if I'm doing this justice, but my bestest friend in the whole wide world, Stephen, wanted me to write one for Finchel, so here you go... LOVE YOU, BOO:)**

**I hope you liked this chapter, I debated it a lot because I wasn't sure where I was going to take this story, but now I'm pretty confident that I have the plot completely formed in my mind. Every conflict, summer adventure, romantic dinner date and even the details of the Klaine wedding...**

**Speaking of Klaine's wedding, if anyone has any suggestions on any of the details or songs that I should use, please write them in a review:) **

**OH YEAH AND REVIEW PLEASE:) thank you to all of you that have reviewed, I deeply appreciate it.**

**Thank you all for reading:) I love you all very, very much:)**


	4. Chapter 4

Rachel sighed to herself, settling into Finn's side as they woke up the next morning, the television replaying the beginning credits of Funny Girl. This was going a lot better than she had planned. The previous day, Finn had played random games with her, they watched a thousand movies, and they cuddled until they both fell asleep. Today, they were planning on going to the mall before heading out later tonight to go to a club down the street.

Finn stirred a few moments after Rachel woke up, pulling her closer to him instinctively.

"Good morning, sleepy head." Rachel said fondly, smiling up at him.

"Good morning to you, too. Are you feeling any better? Are those plans still on for tonight?" Finn asked, rubbing his eyes sleepily. Rachel inwardly swooned at how adorable he looked before shaking herself out of her own thoughts.

"I feel wonderful. Thank you for yesterday. It was really sweet of you. What time do you want to head to the mall?" Rachel asked, snuggling back into Finn's side.

"Like, 4 hours or so? Afterwards, we can meet up with Kurt, Blaine and Santana to eat and all of us can head over to the club. Do you want to go shower and I'll make us some breakfast?" Finn asked, finally completely out of his slumber-state-of-mind.

"That sounds lovely, thank you." Rachel responded, sitting up and stretching before she headed into the bathroom.

* * *

After eating at the diner around 7, Kurt, Blaine, Finn, Rachel and Santana all headed out to the club.

When they got to the crowded club, Kurt and Blaine headed straight for the dance floor and Santana spotted one of her old friends, while Finn and Rachel decided to retreat to the bar to grab some drinks before doing anything else.

Everything was going so well, Rachel was having a really great time dancing with Finn.

She should have known that it wouldn't last long.

They were slow dancing with all of the other couples when someone shouted across the bar. Then, there was a gunshot. And now, they were all on the floor, Rachel holding back a scream as she clung to Finn, terrified for her life.

Kurt and Blaine were in her line of vision, holding each other, their eyes wide with fear as the gunman waved the gun around casually. Santana was nowhere to be found, and Rachel felt her heart clench once she realized that Santana was near the front of the room when the gunman entered. Rachel squeezed Finn's arm tightly and he shifted himself so that he was holding her and covering most of her body, protecting her in case the gunman fired again.

The man walked toward the bartender, who was standing with her hands over her head, a terrified look in her eyes. Finn had seen her hit the emergency button when the gunshot went off, but she was still in great danger. The man pointed towards the cash register and said something in a voice too low to hear from where they were huddled together. Finn glanced in his brother's direction, feeling extremely relieved when he saw Kurt shaking violently as Blaine held him, both of them near the back of the room so that they were out of the gunman's sight.

Rachel inhaled sharply and started sobbing into Finn's arms as she caught sight of a familiar white dress and heels on the floor, hearing Santana's gasps of pain. By this time, the gunman had gotten all of the money, and now he was just standing there, watching all of the people in the room shake with fear. He looked around frantically for a back exit before sprinting towards it, his gun waving in the air, pointing at some people before exiting the building. Immediately after the door had closed, Santana cried out in pain and Rachel screamed, running towards her.

"Rachel?" Santana gasped out, squeezing Rachel's hand for comfort and reassurance.

"I'm here, Santana, it's going to be okay. You're going to be fine, nothing's going to happen, I won't let you die. Where did he shoot you?" Rachel asked, sighing in relief when she heard sirens getting closer and closer. Santana closed her eyes and bit her lip, trying to ignore the pain as she rolled over slightly, revealing a dark, growing, red stain in the middle of her white dress, hovering over where her stomach is.

"Santana?" Kurt called, running towards them, Blaine and Finn in tow. Finn didn't speak, just stared at Santana with a frightened, pained, desperate look on his face. Blaine was sobbing too hard to get a word out.

"Hey, Porcelain, I'm fine, don't you worry. Blaine, look at me. I'm going to be okay. I'm strong, I can handle a bullet. Finn, you need to pull yourself together. I'm going to be okay. Stop looking at me like that, all of you. I'm fine. It hurts, quite a bit, actually, but I'll be fine." Santana said, staring at everyone with a brave look on her face. Rachel sighed in relief, clenching Santana's hand harder, and Kurt finally let his walls break down, his entire body shaking with sobs. Blaine held on to Kurt tightly, whispering sweet nothings into his ear comfortingly. Finn closed his eyes, letting a few tears escape before turning to Rachel.

"I'll be right back, the police are here, I'm getting them to come get her." Finn said, giving Rachel a kiss on the cheek before sprinting out the door.

* * *

_Why aren't they out of surgery yet? It was supposed to end 10 minutes ago. _

Rachel sank a little lower in her seat next to Finn, pressing her face into her hands anxiously. Finn pulled her a little closer before placing a kiss on the top of her head, sighing with emotional exhaustion. Kurt and Blaine were seated across from them, Kurt with silent tears still spilling onto his cheeks and Blaine with his head on Kurt's shoulder, his eyes closed, still whispering random things to reassure Kurt.

"Good news," the doctor said as he entered the waiting room. They all sat up anxiously. "She's going to be fine. But, the bad news is that she won't be able to birth a child. But, considering what she told me when I broke the news to her, she's okay with that. She's asking for all of you, but I don't suggest all of you at once. You can go inside in pairs, but too many people might overwhelm her."

"Rachel? You and Finn can go in first. Blaine and I are going to grab something from the gift shop." Kurt said after talking with Blaine for a couple of minutes. Rachel sighed in relief as she stood up, taking Finn's hand and leading the way to Santana's room.

"Santana? How are you feeling?" Rachel asked once she entered the sterile, white room.

"I'm good, Rache. I've been better, but no real harm was done. I wasn't going to be the one having the baby, anyway. No matter what, actually. It's not that bad." Santana responded, opening her eyes.

"Oh, thank god you're alright." Finn breathed out, leaning down to hug her gently.

"I love you, too, Frankenteen, but I told you so. I knew I was going to be fine." Santana replied, but she hugged him back, sighing a bit in relief. After Finn released her, Rachel jumped in and held on to her roommate tightly, sobbing softly.

"I know you said you were going to be fine, but there was so much blood and everything was just so,_ so _bad." Rachel said in between sobs. They held each other tightly for another minute or two before they released each other, both with tears on their cheeks.

"Did they catch him?" Santana asked, turning to Finn. He shook his head, frowning.

"No, he got away. They will, though. He left prints on the gun that they found in the dumpster. Dumbass. I hope he rots in jail." Finn said, clenching his fists angrily. Rachel nodded with similar anger, twisting her hand in Finn's for comfort. Finn returned the squeeze, smiling slightly at her for a brief moment, before returning his gaze to a smirking Santana.

"It's fine, guys. I know they'll find him. Why don't you guys send in the gay Wondertwins. I'm sure they're both freaking out over their Auntie Tana. I'm pretty sure Blainers was ready to strangle that asshole. You guys go get some sleep. Finn, you should stay with Rachel. Keep her company." Santana said, winking at both of them.

"Alright. Get some rest. They said they'll let you out tomorrow at noon, right?" Rachel asked, ignoring the last comment. Finn and Rachel had already discussed that, and Rachel was uncomfortable being alone in the apartment, so Finn was already staying the night. Finn turned a little red at the insinuation, but otherwise shrugged it off. Typical Santana, at least she was back to her old thinking habits. Nothing had really changed, actually. She seemed like she was handling the situation quite well.

"I'm shocked at how good you're handling this, Santana. You're a lot stronger than people give you credit." Finn commented. Santana shrugged.

"It's not like I haven't been shot before. I _did_ live in Lima Heights Adjacent. I was shot in the leg when I was 13 when some asshole robbed my uncle's store. He didn't shoot me on purpose, just a misfire. He was arrested, I was fine. I learned how to handle situations like this. My aunt was shot once, too, so I guess I just grew accustomed to it. It's not that big of a deal. It hurt like a bitch, but I'm fine now, it's not like I'm dead." Santana said nonchalantly.

"I still hate that you had to go through this. Get better soon." Rachel said, hugging Santana again before leaving the room to exit the hospital.

* * *

"That was the most terrifying thing I have experienced in my entire life." Rachel said as they settled themselves on the couch in the apartment.

"You... You protected me." Rachel continued, staring into Finn's eyes with gratitude. Finn shrugged before turning red.

"I don't know why, but I feel very connected to you. It's a little scary sometimes. I just couldn't let you get hurt." Finn stated, pulling Rachel closer to him protectively.

"I feel the connection, too. Just... Thank you, Finn." Rachel said, kissing him softly before snuggling into his chest, heaving out a large sigh. Finn held her close to him, closing his eyes, suddenly feeling the full weight of the night on his chest. Rachel yawned, feeling exhausted.

After another hour of talking to each other about random things, they both fell asleep in each other's arms, unaware of how connected they truly were and how much that connection would grow in the upcoming months/years.

All they knew at this point was that they needed each other and that they didn't have any plans on letting the other go.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Wow. That did not go as planned, but the episode from last weeks Glee, "Shooting Star," inspired this chapter. I hope you all enjoy it and I hope I did the shooting scene justice. I really needed to kickstart the Finchel relationship and this was the first way I thought of doing that after watching that episode on Thursday. I'm sorry it's taken me like two days to update, I don't write on Glee days unless it's at midnight and it's for a one-shot or ficlet, but on Friday, I started the chapter but didn't like how it was going, so I decided to add a bit of angst. To the anon who suggested to add some drama, this is for you. I was going to have the angst involve some exes or something, but this seemed to be the best way to go about it, and I needed some Pezberry friendship. I don't plan on having Santana freaking out about being shot, but you obviously know that by now. If I get enough requests, I might go into further detail on Santana's shooting-backstory, but until then, I think I'm going to leave it as is.**

**As always, REVIEW:) **


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:**

**Shout out to Tildamay who reviewed: ooh could Rachel and Santana sing ever ever after by carrie underwood at the klaine wedding? also i think a good source of angst could be finn and tana not telling rachel that they had sex in high school? also could we have more hummelanderberry friendship? i love ur story so far :) x**

**Thank you for the review and suggestions, I don't think I'm going to have the Santana/Finn not telling Rachel thing, just because it's been done before and I really don't think Rachel would care, because in this case, Santana isn't a bitch to Rachel about it and Rachel isn't a virgin. I haven't actually heard that song before, so I'll look it up and if I like it (which is an almost guarantee with Carrie Underwood), I'll be sure to add that to the story. I am SO glad someone asked for more HummelAnderBerry friendship because I was trying to lay off of it, considering I usually tend to get carried away when I write anything Klaine-ish, but I'm going to give them some more scenes in this. Thank you for the review, I'm so glad that everyone is liking this:) I would have PMed you, but you don't have an account and I think I'm going to address suggestions through my author's notes. **

**Another shoutout to "noro," who has been reviewing very frequently, and even though they are just small little bits, they are greatly appreciated. Oh! And a shoutout to an anon who went by the name, "Guest," who wrote:**

**ERMAHGERD IT WAS AWESOME I LOVE IT I LOVE YOU I WANT ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING.**

**Thank you all so much for your reviews, there should be another Author's Note at the end of this chapter, and I'm sorry this has been such a huge author's note, haha:) I'll try to tone it down a little, unless you guys like the Author's Notes that are super long. **

******************On to the story!**

* * *

A week after the shooting at the club, Rachel and Finn had spent a lot of time together, but they hadn't really talked much with Kurt and Blaine, who were taking the incident harder than anyone had expected them too. Santana hadn't been too effected, but she had now vowed to never go near the front of a club ever again.

Kurt and Blaine had kept to themselves, though, and now Rachel was getting worried. Whenever she _did _see the couple, they looked far from okay. Finn said that Blaine rarely ever talked anymore and Kurt would just burst into tears at the most random moments. Rachel sighed sadly at the thought of her best friends being so distraught and detached from everyone. She needed to do something, to see them. So, she decided to visit them.

"Kurt? Blaine?" Rachel called, entering the apartment. They were cuddled together on the couch, watching an old movie. Both of them had deep bags under their eyes from lack of sleep, but they actually looked a little better than before.

"Rachel? Finn's not here, he went to go visit our old friend, Matt. He's in the city for a few days, so I suspect that they'll be busy until Matt goes back to Lima." Kurt answered, looking up briefly from the movie in Rachel's direction.

"I know. I came to see you two." Rachel replied.

"Why?" Kurt asked. Blaine didn't speak, but he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Rachel sighed before continuing.

"Because you are both very shaken up about the shooting and I want to help. Blaine is practically mute, he only ever speaks to you, and you cry constantly for absolutely no reason. You both are _obviously_ losing tons of sleep. I am very worried about the both of you, you're supposed to be getting married in a matter of months and you _should_ be extremely happy. But you aren't. You are both distressed and detached and sad and it's all because of that _stupid_ shooter at that _stupid _club. I miss you guys. I'm here to help you." Rachel declared, growing more frustrated at the shooter and the entire situation with every word she spoke.

Unknowingly, Rachel set off the waterfalls.

Blaine, who had been completely silent the entire time and had looked like a shell of his former self, had finally cracked and just started sobbing, which caused Kurt's eyes to grow insanely wide and take the smaller boy in his arms, soothing him. Rachel winced, feeling her heart break at their obvious distress and frustration. Kurt whispered softly into his fiancé's ear until he calmed down enough to where they could both carry on a conversation.

"It just scared the hell out of me, Rachel. I thought that we were going to die. I thought I was going to lose Kurt, I thought I was going to lose all of you. And then Santana was shot and I thought I was going to lose my best friend and I just can't handle the thought of losing anyone right now, Rachel. I can't." Blaine choked out, sobbing. Kurt nodded and pulled Blaine back towards his chest again, kissing his head. Rachel nodded in sympathy.

"I understand, Blaine. Everyone was freaked out. Everyone thought they were going to die. But, you can't just shut yourself out from people who can help you and empathize with you and relate to what you are feeling right now. I don't know if you're feeling grateful, but that's what I'm feeling. I'm just extremely grateful for even being alive right now, alive with the most important people in my life with me. Nothing can take that away, now." Rachel assured him. Blaine frowned and shook his head.

"He's still out there, Rachel. He's still out there and he's able to harm other people and that scares the living hell out of me." Blaine said, shivering slightly. Kurt closed his eyes, holding back tears, as he pressed a light kiss to Blaine's cheek.

"But he's not going to hurt you. And, I'm positive that they'll find him in a matter of days. They have three suspects and they all are behind bars. The only three fingerprints found on the gun are theirs. You'll be fine, Blaine. I know you will. Now, Kurt. I miss my best friend in the entire world. Please, _please_ explain to me what you're feeling." Rachel said, directing her attention to Kurt. Kurt squeezed his eyes tightly, letting a few tears loose, before clearing his throat and beginning to speak.

"My mom, as you know, was killed when I was 8 years old. Most people suspected it was a car accident or an ongoing sickness, but it wasn't. She was fine. She wasn't hit by a car, she wasn't ill, she was absolutely fine. Mom was going to the grocery store to grab some ingredients for dinner. She was planning on making some weird kind of salad and she got the wrong ingredient, so she had to go back for it. Mom walked in the store, grabbed the ingredient, which was actually some cherries, which is why I hated getting slushied in high school by those stupid things, and just as she was about to check out, a robber came in, carrying a gun, and shot her. I guess the guy didn't plan on shooting anyone, but it was a misfire and it hit her. So, when the gunman came in to the club and shot Santana, it brought up bad memories and I've been having nightmares ever since." Kurt said, his voice trembling. Blaine switched positions with him, now comforting Kurt while Kurt cried softly. Rachel felt herself tearing up and brushed away a few stray tears, taking both of their hands in her own.

"Listen, guys. This is hard for you. I totally understand that. Kurt, the mother thing is awful and I'm so sorry that both of you have to go through such distress, but you can't run away from the rest of us. You need to talk to us. Finn, Santana and I are going through very similar stuff. We can help you. Don't disconnect yourselves from the rest of the world." Rachel said. Kurt and Blaine nodded, squeezing her hands. Suddenly, Rachel came up with a plan.

"I have an idea. You guys said that you were going to visit your family and friends in Lima in a little while, right? Why don't we just pack up and leave now. It would help you both to be close to your families and friends. I'll go with you, of course. I've been dying to meet Papa Burt and I know that Santana needs to work some things out with Brittany, if I recall mine and Finn's conversation last week, based on all the texts he was getting from Brittany. So, we should all go to Lima. I can get us plane tickets that leave in two days, I think, but either way, we're leaving early." Rachel demanded. Kurt and Blaine didn't protest at all and actually looked relieved at the suggestion.

"Alright, Rache." Blaine said, smiling gratefully.

"Sounds good. I've been wanting to introduce you to the rest of the gang, anyway." Kurt said, wiping away the rest of his tears.

* * *

The next two days went by quickly; after telling Santana and Finn about the plane trip, they had all just relaxed until they had to leave. Now, it was the night before the flight, and Finn felt that he needed to determine what Rachel was to him, so Finn had decided to stay the night. Santana was going to Finn, Kurt and Blaine's apartment, so they would be all alone, which would give him the perfect opportunity to bring up the subject.

"Uh, Rache?" Finn asked, suddenly nervous.

"Yeah? What's up? You look anxious." Rachel said as she entered the living room with a bowl of popcorn and a large quilt. Finn sighed heavily, searching for the right words.

"What are we? Like, relationship-wise?" Finn blurted out. Rachel's face was unreadable. She contemplated several ideas in her head before returning her attention to Finn, noticing his worry-filled look. Finn really wasn't ready to lose her yet.

"I don't care what we are, Finn. I just want to be with you in any way that I can." Rachel said shyly, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. Finn let out a wide grin.

"Okay. Good. So, Rachel Berry. Can I introduce you to my family as my girlfriend?" Finn asked, looking at her hopefully. Rachel felt a smile break across her face as she nodded.

"I would love nothing more." Rachel responded, kissing him softly and passionately.

"That's great news. Mom's going to love you, I'm sure of it." Finn whispered, pulling Rachel towards him as they started the movie.

"I hope so, boyfriend." Rachel whispered back, smiling brightly.

* * *

**Author's Note #2: **

**This is such a short chapter, but I have a lot planned for them, so I hope you all don't mind. The next chapter might be really short, too, because I haven't decided if I am going to combine the plane ride and the meeting of the family or what exactly I'm going to do with that, so prepare yourselves. I am also in the middle of writing a Klaine story, which is my normal sort of thing, so I apologize if I don't update enough for you guys. If you want, you can go check that fanfiction out, it's a little longer than this one and I update it every other day, except for Thursday. I also have a couple one-shots, and I would love it if you guys could go read those and review them for me. I have a long, long, _long_ Klaine story that I wrote on my iPod touch that is literally just one, 30000 word chapter. **

**Wow. I just promoted myself. Huh. **

**Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions, they are greatly appreciated and I will discuss them at the beginning of each chapter if I can. **

**Reviews are like Klaine. I Just Can't Get Enough.**

**My heart goes out to all of those people in Boston. This chapter is dedicated to you. You're all being thought of, here in NY.**

**THANK YOU FOR READING:) I LOVE YOU GUYS:)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: (BTW: I googled the amount of time a plane ride from New York to Ohio would be, and it said 1 hour and 42 minutes, so if that information is incorrect, please let me know. Also, if I'm doing anything wrong about anything, it's because _I'm only 14_ and I really haven't had too much experience in all of the college stuff. That's just a heads up for future reference.)**

**Okay, so it has been determined that this chapter will be the plane trip/meeting of family combined into one. I think the plane trip should be fairly easy, I mean, I would have loved to have made one of them terrified of flying, but I used that idea in my Klaine fic, so it would be like copying my previous work and changing the names of the characters. So, I'm not gonna do that. I appreciate the reviews greatly and I love you guys so much; you review more than my Klaine fic, so I might start writing Finchel frequently. **

**PS: I just wanted to give you guys a heads up, this entire story should be about 14 or 15 or 16 chapters. **

**PPS: I have never read a Finchel fanfiction before, so if I'm doing something a little weirdly or if I'm not portraying their characters correctly, please let me know in a review so I can fix that.**

**Rachel's necklace(a lot cheaper and not real diamonds in my story) _remove the spaces and the parentheses_: en-us / **

**Rachel's pink sundress YOU HAVE TO SCROLL DOWN SOME: product-gs / 391326753 / Black_and_Pink_Sun_dress_ **

* * *

Rachel and Finn woke up the next morning in each other's arms, still laying on the couch. Rachel sat up reluctantly, kissing Finn on the cheek before bouncing into the bathroom to get ready for the plane ride this morning. It was going to be almost two hours on a plane, nonstop, but Rachel knew that she would be meeting Finn's family as soon as they reached the airport terminal, so she decided to ask Kurt for advice. She called him, and after they had a twenty-minute-long gush-fest about how Rachel was dating Finn and how adorable that was, he told her what to wear if she wanted to impress Burt and Carole.

"Just grab something very appropriate, but very girly. Wear any of your dresses with cute sandals and some simple accessories. Keep the makeup light, nothing more than mascara and slight liner on your upper lids. Wear some pink lipgloss, too, but nothing darker than a baby pink, and nothing too bright. Keep it very simple, but elegant and girly and sweet, and just be yourself when you meet them. Actually, if you need advice for meeting the parents, you should talk to Blaine. You're sitting next to us on the flight, anyway." Kurt said.

"Why am I not sitting with Finn?" Rachel asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as she searched in her closet for the right dress.

"Because I wasn't sure if you two would be together by then. I knew you guys were flirty at first, but we've been keeping to ourselves lately. Blaine and I weren't sure, so we just got you the seat next to ours." Kurt explained.

"Alright. Well, I have to go finish picking out my outfit and packing up the last of my things. I'll see you in an hour, right?" Rachel asked.

"Yepp. Good luck and remember to keep it simple. Love you, Rache!" Kurt said before hanging up.

Rachel walked into her bathroom and pulled out all of her stuff, putting all of it away except for a tan eyeshadow pallet, black mascara, black liquid eyeliner and clear lipgloss. After packing up all of her other things, she headed back into her closet to look through her clothes again. She settled on a dark pink sundress with a white cardigan and a silver-chained bow necklace. She paired all of that with her light tan sandals. Rachel quickly put on her makeup before putting it in her carry-on bag, placing her pajamas inside her suitcase and zipping it up completely.

Rachel walked out of her room, bags in tow, to see Finn with his luggage, sipping on a coffee in the kitchen. He was looking reasonably less tired than earlier and was nibbling on the remains of a piece of toast. Finn smiled at Rachel when she walked into the kitchen, standing up to give her a light kiss on the cheek.

"You look beautiful." Finn muttered, wrapping his arms around Rachel's waist and pulling her towards him. Rachel flushed slightly and smiled up at him.

"Are you ready to go?" Rachel asked, nuzzling her head into Finn's chest. Finn sighed contently and pulled back a little, nodding.

* * *

"I'm really excited to see everyone again. I can't wait for you to meet my mom and dad." Finn said with a smile as they walked to the car to go to the airport.

"So am I. By the way, I thought you and Kurt were stepbrothers?" Rachel asked, taking note of the "dad" in his sentences and how Kurt always called Carole his mom.

"We are, but the senior year of high school, we got super close as a family. Kurt and I don't consider each other stepbrothers, we consider each other brothers. I don't call Burt by his name because he's like a father to me; same with Mom and Kurt. We're like a family now, and we have been for about a year and a half." Finn explained as Rachel pulled out of the parking lot. Rachel and Finn had decided last night that Rachel would drive to the airport and Finn would drive in Lima. It would just make it easier on the both of them.

"That's good. I get it now that I see you two together. I still think it's hilarious and adorable that Kurt had a crush on you in 10th grade, though. I think I laughed for an hour straight as he told me about everything he had thought and said about you." Rachel recalled, giggling lightly at the memory. Finn laughed loudly.

"How on Earth did you get Kurt to tell you about that? I thought he swore he would never speak of it again." Finn said between loud bursts of laughter.

"If you get Kurt drunk, he'll tell you anything." Rachel said, grinning. Finn made a mental note of that, chuckling again.

"I knew that was why he stopped drinking. After he threw up on Ms. Pillsbury, he told every single member of the glee club _exactly _what he thought about them. He told his best friend, Mercedes, that she was the most talented singer in the room, besides me. He told Puck that if he wasn't such a jerk that Kurt would find him totally hot, and told Quinn that she was really nice under her bitchy exterior. Tina was praised for her singing voice and then knocked down about 18 notches when he drilled into her about her sense of style. Kurt actually caused a lot of tears with his style critiques that day, if I remember correctly." Finn said, laughing again.

"What did he say about you?" Rachel asked, laughing almost as loud as Finn was.

"Kurt took about 45 minutes on me, telling me how handsome I was. I mean, thank god that his father picked him up when he did; it was starting to get inappropriate." Finn recalled, his entire body aching from his laughter. Rachel laughed even harder at this, throwing her head back slightly.

"Oh my gosh, does Blaine know? We should tell Blaine; I want to see his reaction." Rachel said, her eyes widening at her own suggestion.

"That would be hilarious, we should do it while we're in Lima. I hope he doesn't go all jealous-boxer-Blaine on me, though. He's pretty strong for his size." Finn said, shuddering at the thought of being hit by Blaine. Rachel giggled again before turning her attention back to the road.

* * *

Finally, they had all arrived at the airport. Once they had gotten their bags checked and had been through airport security, still snickering at the fact that Santana had to be patted down as she glared at the four of them, they had decided to go grab some snacks and stuff for the plane. It was only two hours, but time doesn't go too fast when you're sitting in a tin-can.

"Kurt and I are going to go grab Vogue from _Hudson News_, do you guys want anything to read?" Blaine asked, looking at all of them. Rachel requested an issue of Vogue as well, Finn wanted Sports Illustrated, and Santana asked for "the most dirty, disgusting, completely untrue tabloid that you can see," making Blaine smile as he shook his head and causing Kurt to snort.

"Looking for Jacob Ben-Israel?" Kurt asked, smirking. Santana laughed in approval, nodding her head and high-fiving him.

"Actually, I was thinking of grabbing some coffee, does anybody want anything to drink?" Rachel chimed in after a few moments of silence.

"A medium drip for Blaine and a grande nonfat mocha for me." Kurt spoke up. Blaine grinned.

"And maybe I can get him to split one of those cupid cookies," Finn, Rachel and Santana added automatically. Kurt's eyes widened comically.

"Wait, what? Wow, deja vu. That's weird, I feel like I've said that before." Blaine said, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion as Kurt blushed a deep red.

"_Oh Rachel, he knows my coffee order, we're so meant to be!_" Rachel quoted in her best Kurt voice, putting a wistful look on her face. Blaine smirked, now aware of the situation.

"_He's so charming, Santana, he's such a gentleman!_" Santana added, using the same voice and look as Rachel. Kurt groaned, putting his face in his hands.

"_And he's just so dreamy, Finn, he's so dapper and handsome and beautiful!_" Finn piped up, also using the voice and look. Kurt groaned even louder at this, while Blaine's smirk grew.

"_And those eyes!_" Rachel, Santana and Finn said in unison. Kurt slouched into his seat, trying to disappear.

"Oh, babe, I think that's adorable. You should talk to Wes and David, that sounds like most of the conversations that I've had with them. And that _still _happens." Blaine said, giggling slighty and kissing Kurt's hair.

"Adorable? Don't even get me started on _that _comment, Blaine." Santana said, cackling. Kurt took his face out of his hands and glared at Santana before standing up.

"Just get me the damn coffees, Rachel. Are you going to a store or anything?" Kurt asked, directing his attention to Santana and Finn. Santana was still grinning as she shook her head.

"Nope. I'm going to stay here and wait for you both to get back with my tabloid and coffee." Santana said, plopping herself onto a seat in one of the chairs in the room of their assigned gate.

"Alright. What about you, Finn?" Kurt asked, grabbing Blaine's hand.

"No, probably not." Finn said, shrugging. Kurt nodded once and headed off to the store.

"What would you like to drink, Tana?" Rachel asked.

"Just some kind of soda. I don't care which." Santana responded, taking out her phone to entertain herself. Rachel nodded and turned to Finn.

"Do you want any coffee?" Rachel asked, tangling their hands together. Finn smiled at the warmth he felt reach his chest when her hand met his.

"I'll just go with you. I'm not too sure what I want yet." Finn replied, even though he already knew his exact order. So what if he wanted to spend some time with his girlfriend, she was _his_ _girlfriend_. Rachel's eyes lit up a little at this suggestion.

"Alright. Be right back, Santana." Rachel called. Santana didn't respond, too immersed in her game to realize that Finn and Rachel were leaving.

* * *

15 minutes later, they all met up back at the gate, now being called to board. They settled into their seats on the plane easily. Finn and Santana were in the same row, but Santana had taken the window seat once she realized that no one was seated in it, leaving one seat between them. Rachel sat on the aisle seat, Blaine in between Kurt and Rachel as Kurt curled up against the window. Santana fell asleep almost instantly. Realizing her opportunity to talk to Blaine about Burt and Carole, she turned towards him.

"How was your first time meeting Burt and Carole? Do you have any advice for me?" Rachel asked, growing more anxious by the second. Blaine thought about his reply for a few seconds before facing her.

"Call them Mr. and Mrs. at first, but I'm sure they'll request you to call them Burt and Carole instantly. Just be yourself, really. Try to have the best manners possible at first, at least for a few days. But, after you've warmed up to them, you can just relax. They are very easy to please, just don't hurt their kids." Blaine said, smiling softly at Rachel as her grip on her armrest weakened.

"Really? Alright. That seems easy enough. Do you think they'll like me?" Rachel asked Blaine, growing worried again. Kurt cut in.

"Rachel, you're my best friend. I have gushed about you to them on many occasions and I'm positive they'll love you. Just be yourself, honey. You'll do fine." Kurt assured her, reaching across Blaine to squeeze her hand. Blaine nodded, agreeing with his fiancé. Rachel calmed down significantly after that, relaxing into her seat and falling asleep.

**(Anything in italics: This is Rachel's dream on the plane. Not sexual, don't worry.)**

_Rachel was sitting in a hammock on a tropical island. The wind was blowing softly, smelling of roses and coconut. Rachel sighed as she leaned farther back into the hammock, realizing that Finn was laying with her, as well. She sat up and kissed him softly before laying back down and taking in her surroundings._

_The ocean was completely clear, as if it wasn't saltwater, but water from a water bottle. The sky was a bright blue, the sun shining down on Rachel and Finn in a way that wasn't too hot nor too bright. The sand was the perfect color and texture, not too sticky and not too dry or hot. They were alone on the beach, as if they had owned it or were on a deserted island. There were two glasses of strawberry lemonade on the table next to them as they enjoyed the beachy breeze. _

_Rachel felt Finn's hand intertwine with her own as he kissed her affectionately on the head. Rachel smiled at the contact, but it was taken away almost instantly. Suddenly, Finn was on the other side of her, looking into her eyes as he smiled and shook her shoulder. Her eyebrows furrowed at the movement, confused as to why Finn was shaking her, but he just smiled at her._

_"Rachel?" _

_"Rachel?"_

* * *

"Rachel? We'll be landing soon. You've got to wake up now." Finn tried again. Blaine was busy doing the same to Kurt and Santana had woken up as soon as the pilot spoke up a few minutes ago. Rachel awoke at Finn's attempt this time, her eyes still closed as she moved slightly.

"Finn?" Rachel said, half awake. Finn sighed in relief.

"Finally, I was beginning to worry about you. We'll be landing soon." Finn said, pushing some of Rachel's hair out of her face.

"I'm up, I'm up. Okay. Thank you." Rachel said as she opened her eyes, blushing slightly when Finn pushed the hair out of her face.

"You're welcome." Finn replied, smiling his signature crooked-smile. Rachel smiled back at him before packing up her magazine back into her carry-on.

* * *

After they had gotten off of the airplane, Santana and Blaine went to the bathroom and Kurt went to fix his hair while Rachel and Finn went to grab some water. It was around noon, so they had decided that after they met up with Finn and Kurt's parents that they would grab a bite to eat on the way to their house.

As they walked down the escalators that lead to the luggage carousels, Rachel's anxiety began to come back as she thought of all of the things that could go wrong. Suddenly, Kurt interrupted her thoughts by sprinting away from Blaine to hug an older man with a baseball cap on that Rachel recognized as their dad, Burt. Finn let go of Rachel's hand to walk towards a woman who had dark green eyes, a woman that Rachel recognized as their mother, Carole. Blaine and Santana moved forward, too.

"It's so good to see you again, Dad." Blaine muttered, enveloping Burt in a hug. Rachel remembered Kurt telling her about how Blaine didn't have much of a family and how Blaine's only real family was Kurt's own family, but she didn't think that it would be to this extent. Santana hugged Carole, complimenting her hair and telling her how good it was to see her again.

After all of the hugs between everyone who knew each other, Finn stepped back to grab Rachel's hand.

"Mom, Dad, this is Rachel. Rachel is my girlfriend; the girl I've been talking about. She's also Kurt's best friend." Finn said, adding the last part on as an afterthought.

Suddenly, Rachel felt herself being hugged gently by Carole, and then enveloped in a bear hug from Burt.

"It's so great to finally meet you, Rachel!" Carole said, smiling warmly at her. Rachel smiled back.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Hudson-Hummel." Rachel responded. Rachel heard Kurt whisper about how _Blaine _her statement had sounded, gaining a snicker and a high five out of Santana as Blaine rolled his eyes and glared at both of them.

"Please, call us Burt and Carole. It took Blaine years to learn that lesson." Burt said, winking at Blaine, who rolled his eyes at him, but smiled.

"Will do. It took Blaine a month to stop calling his neighbors Mr. and Mrs., and they were only a year older than us, so I can imagine it took him even longer for you, considering you're Kurt's parents." Rachel commented, smiling innocently as Blaine glared at her.

"It isn't my fault that I went to a prep school and had _natural _etiquette, Rachel Berry." Blaine quipped. Kurt snorted at his side.

"Honey, you know that you won me over with your dapper attitude, but if you call my aunt anything besides Veronica, she'll rip you to shreds. That woman hates the idea of getting older, and I really don't want to have a dead fiancé on my hands before we even are married." Kurt commented. Burt and Carole froze as Kurt's eyes widened at the fact that he had called Blaine his fiancé. Santana snickered at Kurt's reaction, whispering about how he resembled a doll and calling him Porcelain. Rachel held back a giggle at Santana's comment, still waiting for Burt and Carole to react to the news.

"_Finally! _Blaine, you got my permission your senior year of high school, I was beginning to think that you were never going to ask!" Burt commented, throwing his arms around a smiling Blaine. Carole teared up instantaneously, walking forward to wrap her arms around Kurt, murmuring into his ear about how happy she was for the two of them.

After they got done congratulating Kurt and Blaine, Burt and Finn went over towards the carousel to pick up all of the luggage, passing it out to Kurt, Blaine, Santana and Rachel. Carole, Kurt and Rachel were now immersed in a conversation about wedding planning, while Blaine and Santana came up with nicknames for the strangers inside of the airport. After everyone was done with that, they decided to head out to the van so they could get going. Finn walked with Burt as they had a conversation about the football season of this year and Santana walked with Kurt and Blaine, Kurt now being dragged into their game of nicknaming the people around them. Rachel strayed behind, walking beside Carole as they still chatted about wedding details. After a few minutes of silence, Carole turned toward Rachel.

"Finn looks a lot happier than he has in a long time, and I have you to thank for that. You're good for him." Carole said, smiling at Rachel. Rachel smiled back brilliantly.

"That's great. I've been a lot happier sense I've met him, too. I don't think I've been this happy in a long time, either." Rachel replied. Carole nodded, still smiling.

"I just wanted to tell you that and to officially welcome you to the family." Carole said with a smile before walking toward the car to help Burt and Blaine with the suitcases.

Suddenly, Rachel's nerves completely evaporated and she felt a warm feeling overcome her.

_This is going better than I had planned._

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**ARGHHH I HATE MY INTERNET. This chapter used to be a lot longer, but my STUPID INTERNET acted up and deleted half of everything that I had written. I was so mad. **

**But, I hope you enjoy this chapter anyway. Please review, I love your reviews to death. I love all of you guys for reading this:) **

**I'll be updating in a few days. **

**THANK YOU FOR READING, I LOVE YOU MORE THAN FINN LOVES RACHEL, IF THAT'S EVEN POSSIBLE;)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **

**Alright, so once I get 10 chapters of this written, I should be more than halfway through with the story, so I'm either going to start a Brittana fanfiction or a Klaine fanfiction. If I get enough requests for Finchel fanfiction, I might consider that as well.**

**What this means for you, my dear readers, is that you might not get chapters for more than a few days. It might turn into once-a-week, or it might turn into all of them at once. But, I'm not sure.**

**I will definitely try to keep this updated, but actually, you don't have to worry about my updates changing until I hit chapter 10 or 11, which is still not going to be for a little bit. I'll try my best to keep you guys updated and happy, so just enjoy this attention right now, considering it may stray in a little while. **

**Thank you for your amazing reviews; they are deeply appreciated. I would love some more prompting or suggestions, I'm open to anything.**

**On to the chapter!**

* * *

Once they had all arrived at Burt and Carole's, Finn, Rachel, Kurt and Blaine went to unpack their things. Santana had been dropped off at her mother's house, where she was planning on staying. They were all meeting up in an hour or so to go to Breadstix and meet up with their old friends. Finn had finished packing first, and he was now looking around his room and reminiscing as Rachel unpacked her own things.

Finn smiled as he stared at the board beside his desk that was cluttered with pictures from high school. There was one or two of Finn and Sam, quite a few of them were of Puck and Finn, and 6 or 7 were with Kurt and/or Blaine, and the rest were of him and the glee club. Finn then realized that Rachel might not know what the glee club looked like and who they all were, so he grabbed his laptop from his bed and logged onto Facebook quickly.

"Done!" Rachel said triumphantly, sitting on the bed next to Finn. "Whatcha doin'?"

"I'm showing you the pictures of the glee club so that you know who we're meeting." Finn said, smiling at her. Rachel chuckled.

"Kurt showed me them when we became friends. I already know who they are, even if they don't know me. I've met Mike and Tina before, I've seen many embarrassing photos of Puck, Mercedes came to visit Kurt last year and I absolutely _adore_ her, Quinn sounds like a sweetheart and I've heard many stories about all of them from Santana. Artie is amazing and he's such a great person; I met him when he came to visit Santana. They're actually really good friends, which apparently shocked Kurt and Blaine. The only people I haven't met in person are Puck, Quinn, Sam and Brittany." Rachel said as Finn pulled up pictures of Puck.

"Well, have you seen any recent pictures of Puck, Quinn, Sam or Brittany?" Finn responded. Rachel shook her head.

"I saw some when I first met Kurt and Santana, but nothing recent." Rachel said. Finn grinned.

"This is Puck. He thinks he's a stud, he's my best friend in the world and he'll probably make some inappropriate comments. But, if you've heard about him from Kurt and you live with Santana, you'll be fine."

Rachel nodded and looked at the picture. He looked almost the same as before, just a little happier. There was a blonde girl in the photograph, standing next to him and laughing at something. Rachel recognized her as Quinn, and told Finn that. Finn nodded and told Rachel that Puck and Quinn had finally gotten back together and that they were both much happier.

"Alright, so that's Puck and Quinn, here's a picture of Sam." Finn said, clicking on a different profile. Rachel held in a snort as she remembered Santana's nickname for him. _His mouth **is **quite large._

Sam looked pretty much the same, as well. His hair was still obviously dyed (yes, Rachel and Kurt both knew that Sam's hair was dyed; it was way too obvious), his lips were still humungous and he still had the same build. The only change was that he looked less like a boy and more like a man; his jaw was more defined and he had light stubble shading in his neck. Finn clicked on the next profile, and Rachel immediately recognized Brittany.

Santana had many pictures of Brittany in her room, but none were very recent. Brittany looked almost identical to her former self, the only change being her hair, which had grown quite a bit. Rachel nodded at the picture and then turned to Finn.

"Santana and Brittany need to talk. That's my main goal for tonight; to get them to talk again. But, from many things Kurt and Blaine have told me about Brittany, she isn't the brightest. Has that changed?" Rachel asked, looking hopeful. Finn nodded.

"Brittany was always a little confusing and ditzy, but when she went to college, she toned it down a bit. She's a little easier to understand, but she's still a little confusing. You'll get the gist of it, and she's a really sweet girl. I'm sure that she'd love to talk to Santana and work some things out." Finn reassured Rachel, smiling at her lightly. Rachel nodded and sighed in relief.

"Ready to go? I think Kurt and Blaine should be unpacked by now." Finn said, turning off his laptop and running a hand through his hair. Rachel nodded and smiled, hopping up from the bed and heading into the hallway. Rachel went towards Kurt's closed bedroom door at the end of the hallway and smiled brightly, turning the knob.

"Are you guys ready to- Oh. My. God." Rachel squeaked as Kurt flushed a bright red and Blaine fell to the floor with a thud, buttoning up his shirt quickly.

"Wow, I haven't landed on this floor that embarrassed since high school, babe." Blaine said, smiling through his blush at Kurt, who let out a chuckle.

"Hi, Rachel. Yes, we're ready to go. At least it wasn't my dad this time." Kurt said, winking at Blaine and fixing his hair. Rachel's eyes widened slightly and she pivoted, rushing out of their room. Finn was standing in his own doorway, laughing loudly.

"You learn to never barge into that bedroom when the door is closed and Blaine is here, eventually. It only took one time of walking in on them when they were completely naked to scar me for life and to never go near that door again." Finn said between loud laughter. Rachel's eyes widened at that mental image, too, and she flushed again.

"That was awful. I always call Kurt before heading over, so I've never seen them in a compromising position before. Santana has, but that was because she has no respect for Blaine or Kurt's privacy and would probably kill to see that." Rachel commented, shaking her head slightly. Suddenly, the door to Kurt's room swung open and they walked out, both still blushing slightly. Blaine cleared his throat.

"Ready to go?" He asked, walking towards Finn and Rachel. Finn started laughing again, causing them all to look at him with confused expressions.

"What's so funny?" Blaine asked. Finn laughed for a few more seconds before responding.

"Just thinking about the good old days. This is such a deja-vu. I thought you would know better by now to lock the door, little bro!" Finn replied, nudging Kurt playfully.

"Oh, shut up." Kurt grumbled, glaring at Finn before turning and heading down the stairs. Rachel giggled lightly before following behind Kurt, and once the two had left, Blaine had burst into loud laughter and followed Finn down the stairs.

* * *

Once they arrived at Breadstix, which the group had actually rented out, they headed inside to greet their friends. Rachel immediately hugged Mercedes tightly and said hello to everyone else that she had met before heading over to meet the people that she recognized from the internet.

"You must be Rachel! How'd you end up with a beauty like this, Finn?" Sam said, leaning in to hug her. Rachel returned the hug and smiled at Sam. Finn rolled his eyes.

"Please, Sam. You and Puck aren't the only lady's men." Finn replied with a mock-grin. Sam laughed and hugged Finn, as well.

"Good to see you, man. Have you seen Kurt?" Sam asked, squinting to look for him. Finn smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, he's with Tina." Finn said, pointing to his brother. Sam nodded and went towards that direction.

Rachel looked around for other people she had to meet and caught the eye of a petite blonde, standing with a tall and muscular man. Rachel recognized them both as Puck and Quinn, and smiled as they headed their way.

"Finnster! How are ya, bro?" Puck said, fist pounding Finn. Finn smiled at him and gestured toward Rachel.

"This is-" Finn started, but was cut off.

"Rachel, I'm guessing? Geeze, Finn, what a babe." Puck said, winking at him. Finn rolled his eyes and Rachel giggled.

"You must be Puck. I've heard _tons_ about you from Kurt and Santana." Rachel said, smiling at him. Puck grinned at her.

"Everything you've heard about him is true. Even if it's coming from Santana." A raspy voice interrupted, leaning in to hug Rachel.

"I'm Quinn. You must be Rachel. Finn's been gushing about you weeks." Quinn said, winking. Finn blushed and leant in to give Quinn a hug.

"Thanks, Quinn. You're making me seem really cool." Finn commented as he pulled away from the hug. Quinn just smirked at him before kissing Puck on the cheek.

"Let's go say hi to Blaine and Kurt. It was wonderful meeting you, Rachel. We'll talk to you guys later." Quinn said, waving to them and heading in the other direction. After Rachel waved to Quinn and Puck, she caught sight of Brittany and walked towards her.

"Hi! I'm Rachel. Finn's girlfriend." Rachel said, smiling. Brittany smiled back.

"Hello! I'm Brittany. You smell like flowers and cinnamon. Is Santana here? She always smells like cinnamon." Brittany said, a yearning and hopeful look on her face. Finn nodded.

"She's near the back, with Mike and Mercedes. She really wants to talk with you, Britt. After dinner, of course." Finn said, giving Brittany a quick hug.

"Speaking of eating, let's go grab our seats." Rachel said. Finn smiled at her and waved to Brittany before heading over to one of the chairs, catching Kurt's eye and nodding, signaling his brother to start eating and make the announcement.

A few minutes later, everyone was seated and eating when Kurt tapped his knife to his glass.

"Attention! Big news, guys. You're probably wondering why I gathered you all hear today, and no it isn't to reminisce or meet Rachel, although that is reason enough on it's own." Kurt said, flashing a smile in Rachel's direction, who returned the smile.

"Do you want to say it?" Kurt asked Blaine, smiling widely. Blaine nodded like an excited puppy and jumped a little, grabbing Kurt by the waist and pulling him closely.

"I proposed to Kurt. We're getting married!" Blaine exclaimed, jumping slightly and squeezing Kurt closer. The entire group burst into applause and wolf-whistles, all of them congratulating Kurt and Blaine on the engagement as the couple smiled and blushed at the attention.

"Santana and Rachel are our bridesmaids, and Cooper and Finn will be our best men, once Cooper finds out. We're getting groomsmen, as well, and we would be honored if Mike and Puck would be two of our 4 groomsmen. We'll get back to you on the bridesmaids once we've figured that out, so in the next couple days." Kurt said, smiling at everyone.

"Thanks, guys, I would love to be one of your groomsmen." Mike said, smiling at them. Puck sniffled, drawing everyone's attention.

"I'm not crying, I just have allergies!" Puck said, turning away from the table to wipe a tear from his eye and sniffle again. Blaine smiled and pulled himself away from Kurt, hugging Puck.

"You're the best, bro. I can't wait to be your guys' groomsmen." Puck said to Blaine, hugging him back. Blaine nodded and pulled away.

"Thanks, Puck." Blaine said, smiling. Puck nodded at him before turning back to Quinn, who smiled softly and kissed him on the cheek.

* * *

After everyone was done congratulating the newly-engaged lovebirds and eating their food, they all headed over to Quinn and Puck's apartment for some drinks and to hang out. Rachel and Finn didn't stay long, due to the party getting a little wild and the people getting a little more drunk, and decided to head home early after saying goodbye to everyone. Once they had gotten back to the house, Burt and Carole were at a friend's house, so Finn and Rachel decided to watch a movie.

Kurt and Blaine arrived back at the house, 2 hours later, drunk out of their minds. Tina had dropped them off, and thank gosh they didn't drive; if they did, they would have crashed. Blaine stumbled in first, the least drunk of the two (he wasn't as drunk as Kurt, but he was pretty damn close) and had his arm around Kurt's waist, helping him through the door.

"Rachel! Blaine, look at who's here! Rachel and Finn!" Kurt slurred, running towards the pair who were cuddled together on the couch. He kissed them both on the cheek and then proceeded to lay on top of them, sighing contently. Blaine giggled drunkenly and pulled him off of the couch, whispering something into Kurt's ear. Kurt nodded excitedly before turning to Rachel.

"We're gonna go have some sex, shhhhhh don't tell Finn or Dad. I'll get grounded and then I won't get to see Blaine after glee practice after school. Shhhhhhh!" Kurt said loudly. Blaine giggled and pulled Kurt up the stairs, the door to their bedroom slamming a few seconds later. Rachel pivoted slightly to look at Finn.

Finn looked half-amused and half-mortified. Rachel let out her repressed laughter.

"You look like you've just been told your dog died!" Rachel gasped out, nudging Finn.

"Kurt just kissed me on the cheek and announced that he was having sex with Blaine upstairs." Finn said, still pale but chuckling slightly.

"And?" Rachel pressed.

"Kurt doesn't _touch _me. I'm lucky if I get a hug or a pat on the knee. He just _kissed my cheek._ Also, Kurt has never spoken to me about sex. I've walked in on him I don't know how many times, but he doesn't comment on it and acts like he has no idea what I'm talking about when I bring it into a conversation." Finn said, stunned. Rachel snorted.

"I'm glad one of us is censored. Kurt brags and gushes about sex with Blaine to me daily. And, Kurt kisses me on the cheek daily, as well." Rachel replied. Finn started laughing again.

"Nice to know that Kurt likes you more than Kurt likes me. That's always a good sign. He does have a way of knowing people." Finn commented, smiling at Rachel.

Rachel just blushed and kissed him on the cheek, cuddling into him again and watching the rest of the movie.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Whoop whoop! Hungover Klaine means quality Finchel alone time... **

**OR**

**Will Rachel and Quinn hang out while Puck and Finn go have bro time?**

**I haven't decided yet, although I'm sure you all are going to request for some Finchel time.**

**THANKS FOR READING, I LOVE YOU ALL.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:**

**Got a great response from a lot of you that says that you guys want Finchel time:)**

**Why am I not surprised?**

**Anyway, the outfit that I used in this for Rachel is similar to that of the outfit that Tina wore when she had that freaky dream that she was Rachel and everyone was switched around, including Kurt and Blaine, who were Finn and Puck. FUCKING HILARIOUS. I died at that episode and I just remembered the dress that Tina wore and thought it was absolutely adorable. **

**Oh, _BTW_, I have to say that since I've been writing this, I actually ship Finchel a lot more. I used to be a shipper, but it was never one of my OTPs, but now it is. I love Finchel now and have actually read quite a few fics. It's pretty cool, I kind of joined another fandom:)**

**Onto the story then!**

* * *

When Rachel and Finn woke up the next morning, the sun was shining brightly and the birds outside of the living room window were chirping loudly. The air was humid, but not overwhelmingly so, and in the ray of sunlight that leaked through the window in the living room, you could see specks of dust that danced through the air.

Somehow, after taking in the entire scenery of the day, Rachel knew that it would be a good day.

After Finn had walked into the kitchen to make them both some cups of coffee, Rachel remembered how drunk Kurt and Blaine were last night and decided to wake them up with glasses of water and a bottle of aspirin. She bounced into their room, feeling refreshed and happy already, and opened the curtains. Kurt and Blaine both hissed at the light that poured into their room, curling back into each other.

"Rise and shine, darlings. Here's some aspirin and water. Is it safe to say that you are both staying here all day?" Rachel said in a cheery voice, not caring if they were pissed off at her.

"Thank you and yes. Now get the fuck out." Blaine groaned. Rachel's eyes widened a little and she glanced at Kurt, expecting him to look scandalized at the use of such language. Kurt didn't recognize the shock that played on Rachel's face and threw a pillow at her to get the girl to leave.

As she entered the kitchen, a shocked look still taking over her face, Finn handed her a cup of coffee and raised his eyebrows to question her facial expression.

"Blaine Anderson just said fuck." Rachel said, waiting for Finn to gasp loudly. He just shrugged.

"Blaine Anderson swears frequently when he's at home. Especially in the morning, actually. He may act all dapper and charming, but he swears like a damn sailor. You get used to it. I was shocked when I first heard it, but Kurt didn't even blink, so I shrugged it off." Finn replied, heading over to search for food inside the cupboards of the kitchen.

"I didn't know Blaine swore. It's weird to me. I feel like Kurt wouldn't put up with swearing because it's kind of barbaric." Rachel said. Finn snorted.

"You've never heard Kurt swear? You're his best friend! I guess you've never pissed him off enough. That's a good thing, I guess. I've heard them both swear on multiple occasions. Kurt never swears in front of people unless he's really ticked off or emotional or whatever. I don't swear that much, most of the time it just slips out, and the same goes for Blaine. But, with Kurt, if he swears, you need to leave the room because he's about to explode." Finn said, shuddering at the memory of when he stained his brother's favorite shirt in their junior year of high school.

"I feel like that's a challenge for me, now. To get Kurt to swear in front of me." Rachel said, grinning. Finn laughed at this and proceeded to take out the ingredients for pancakes, before rethinking it and looking at Rachel to catch her attention.

"Knowing both of them, Kurt and Blaine will be in their room the entire day. Mom and Dad are both working. We're basically alone all day today. So, on that note, I'm taking you out to breakfast. Let's go get ready." Finn said, setting his empty coffee mug down on the counter and leading Rachel into their bedroom.

* * *

After Rachel decided on her outfit(a white dress that was covered in pink lace with tan sandals that had bows on them) and Finn had placed some special things in the trunk, they headed out to the coffee shop.

"Where are we going?" Rachel asked once they drove out of the driving way. Finn smiled.

"The Lima Bean. It's the best coffee in town and it's where everyone from the old glee club would go to hang out before and after school. Everyone's got a lot of memories there." Finn replied, still smiling. Rachel nodded.

Once they made it into the parking lot of the coffee shop, Rachel took in the little building and smiled at how quaint it was. The exterior was quite simple; just a tan building with many windows that had the logo painted onto them. The interior was homey and comfortable. It was cluttered, but not messy, with tables and chairs placed randomly along the inside of the shop. There was a lounge area in the center of it all that had a dark brown leather couch and a few leather chairs that were all facing towards each other and towards the glass table in the middle. The windows provided most of the light, and some of the areas of the shop were a lot brighter than others, depending on where you were seated. There was a wooden counter where a line was forming, glass cases on either side of it that showed off baked goods. Rachel tangled her fingers with Finn's as they waited in line, examining the menu briefly before it was their turn.

"I'll have a grande white chocolate mocha and a vegan cinnamon muffin." Rachel said, smiling politely at the woman who was working the register. The girl smiled back before turning to Finn.

"I'll just take a grande vanilla latte and a double chocolate muffin." Finn said immediately, also smiling politely as Rachel had. The cashier nodded and punched in a few numbers before turning back to Finn.

"That'll be $11.20, Finn. I see you're sticking to the usual." The cashier said with a wink, taking the money from a smiling Finn.

"You know me too well, Meredith." Finn replied, smiling again as he took his drink and muffin from her.

Once they had gotten seated, Rachel took a sip of her coffee and turned to Finn.

"You weren't lying when you said that you used to come here a lot, then, were you?" Rachel asked, smiling warmly at Finn as he took a bite of his muffin and laughed.

* * *

After they were done eating their muffins and drinking their coffees, Finn and Rachel headed back out into the car, chatting idly to pass the time as Finn drove.

Rachel furrowed her eyebrows as they pulled into an empty field. She turned to Finn to ask him what they were doing, but didn't say anything after she took in the beautiful meadow.

The grass was a bright, vibrant green and the sky seemed a little bluer than it was before. There were trees that surrounded the clearing and the birds were singing harmoniously in the background. Rachel wandered into the middle of the empty field, admiring the flowers that grew sporadically in the grass. Finn was rummaging in the trunk for the things he had gathered earlier that morning as Rachel admired the scenery. A few butterflies flitted between bright pink flowers and a rosebush. Finn finally grabbed all of the stuff from the trunk and shut the car up, walking over to where Rachel was standing, her eyes dancing and a peaceful smile on her face. Rachel turned back to Finn, smiling a little brighter at the picnic basket that was clasped in his hand.

"It's beautiful." Rachel said as Finn laid out the picnic blanket and set down the wicker basket. Finn hummed in agreement before laying on his side, his head propped in his hand as he opened the basket and took out some of the contents. Rachel settled herself on the opposite side of him, mimicking his position and taking note of the food that was now sprawled across the white-and-blue checkered blanket.

"I used to come here a lot when I was in high school, just to be alone. Nobody else really knows about it; not even my mom. I think I might have told Kurt about it, but I haven't taken him here and he's never asked to come. I guess he just always assumed that I wanted to keep it special, and he was right. I'll probably end up taking the glee club here at least once, and I'm sure I'll end up having family barbeques up here when I'm older and have children, so it won't remain a secret for too long. But, for right now, I kind of like having it to myself." Finn said, looking around the field and sighing. Rachel frowned slightly in confusion.

"What do you mean? You're taking me here, but you want it for yourself?" Rachel asked, still confused.

"I'm taking you here because you are the first person I wanted to share this with. My family is important, but I told myself that the first person I show this place to needed to be important and special. And, you, Rachel Berry, are very important and very special." Finn said, smiling and taking Rachel's hand as he looked into her eyes earnestly. Rachel's eyes grew wide and she blinked back the tears that were threatening to form as she squeezed Finn's hand and leaned in a little to kiss him softly.

They didn't eat much, mainly just talked throughout the majority of their early-lunch, and decided to save the food for a little later. Finn had told Rachel that there were 4 or 5 trails that he had explored and cleared out a bit that led to a pond and some other, smaller and more private clearings. Rachel had immediately wanted to see the pond, so Finn had taken her down the more scenic path.

Rachel gasped as they walked, admiring the tall trees that surrounded the path and created canopies of greenery that casted shadows beneath her feet and onto the dark soil that was the path. There were rocks and shrubbery that were scattered around the pathway and, for the first time since she was a little girl, Rachel didn't mind seeing a few bugs here or there. The noises on the pathway were similar to those of the clearing(the birds, the sound of water trickling), but they were escalated in volume and had more depth; more white noise that created a beautiful soundtrack to their walk. They didn't talk much as they walked; Finn, reminiscing within himself and remembering all of the fond memories that he had of being alone and figuring himself out in his high school years, and Rachel, studying scenery and enjoying the peaceful bliss that had filled her unlike ever before. Once they had finally made it to the pond, Rachel gasped even louder.

It was _stunning._ The pond was the perfect in-between shade of blue and green and gray. There was another pond that was connected to it; a tiny, puddle-of-a-pond that had lily-pads and a mini-waterfall that poured into the larger pond. There was now the sound of frogs croaking that added to the white noise and the bird sounds from before. The sun was cascading through a large tree and reflecting off of the large pond, shimmering and making the entire scene even more beautiful than it already was, if remotely possible.

"It's so... Wow." Rachel said, breathless at the beauty of everything around her. Finn hadn't moved his eyes from Rachel as he responded.

"Indescribable." Finn said, staring intently at Rachel and smiling softly. Rachel turned towards Finn, blushing, before wrapping her arms around him and kissing him. Finn wrapped his arms around Rachel's waist, brushing a piece of her hair back and responding to the kiss.

* * *

After spending the rest of their afternoon and evening telling stories and recalling old memories and just enjoying the presence of one another, they watched as the sunset on the blanket that they had reset up near the pond. It grew a little colder, but Finn took out another blanket and wrapped it around both of them as they watched the stars in silence.

Eventually, they headed back to the house and went to bed, but they had grown stronger in that one date than they had ever expected to.

It was the perfect ending to the perfect night that was the perfect start of forever.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**NO THAT DOESN'T MEAN THIS IS ENDING, I STILL HAVE A LOT TO WRITE.**

**I'm not sure how I'm going to write the rest of this, but I'm pretty sure that it'll just come to me like it always does. Excuse my lack of grammar on this authors note considering its really fucking late and I don't feel like being perfect on this.**

**I hope you enjoyed the use of description in this chapter, considering it was my favorite thing to write and that I really wanted you all to visualize this freaking meadow down to a T. **

**Reviews are perfection and I love them to death.**

**I am now an official Finchel shipper. They are now one of my OTPs. **

**XOXO LOVE YOU ALL**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:**

**This chapter will probably take me a while to write. I'm writing this Author's Note on May 1st, so if it isn't out by tonight, I'm sorry. I am in need of some inspiration and a storyline for the chapter so that I can ease into upcoming angst. Yes, angst. Well, Hurt/Comfort, but close enough. **

**I love all of your reviews, but some suggestions for some happy chapters or some problems that may have to occur would be wonderful. Please?**

**Anyway, I should start writing this now. I've been putting it off all afternoon, and it's about 11:15 at night.**

* * *

When Rachel and Finn woke up the next morning, their bodies tangled together as they lay snuggled together under a heap of blankets, they had never felt more wonderful. Rachel tucked her body closer to Finn's, basking in the warmth that radiated off of him in the humid, morning air. There was the light shuffling of feet echoing from the hallway and the downstairs, but neither of them wanted to move, so they didn't. They just sort of stayed there for a while.

Finally, after an hour of staring at each other with love-struck gazes and kissing softly on occasion just for the fact that they could, Finn and Rachel decided to get out of bed and socialize with their family. They would be leaving in 2 days, so they knew that they should really take advantage of all the time that they were able to spend with Burt and Carole and the glee club.

"Good morning! Or, should I say, good afternoon?" Blaine asked politely, smiling at them as they walked into the kitchen, completely dressed with their hands latched. Kurt swiveled a bit in his chair to face them and grinned at their blissful appearance. Burt and Carole shared a knowing glance with the couple before turning back to their almost-finished breakfast.

"Sorry; long night." Finn explained, grinning sheepishly at all four of them before kissing Rachel on the cheek and grabbing 2 plates from the cupboard to make up both of their meals. Remembering that Rachel was a vegan, Finn added extra eggs for his girlfriend instead of bacon or sausage and made her some toast, as well.

"Where were you guys, anyway? When Blaine and I got out of bed to get water and food, you guys weren't back yet and it was around 11 at night. Did you go out to a club, or something?" Kurt asked, taking a sip of his coffee and not looking up from his copy of Vogue. Finn smiled at Rachel and handed the girl her plate before turning back to Kurt.

"I took her there." Finn replied, knowing that he wouldn't need to elaborate for Kurt to understand what he meant. Kurt's eyes moved from his magazine to look at Finn and Rachel, a smile plastered on his face.

"Was it beautiful? Finn's told me that it's stunning. Well, not in so many words, but from his description, I just _know_ that it's gorgeous." Kurt said, turning his full attention on Rachel. Blaine seemed to understand what they were talking about now, and smiled slightly at Kurt's enthusiasm before turning back to reading the comics in the newspaper. Burt and Carole both looked completely confused, but didn't comment until Rachel was done gushing about all of the details of their night with Kurt, who looked on dreamily.

"Where exactly did you go, Finn? I don't think I've heard of a place like that in Lima." Burt said, squinting as he tried to remember anything that sounded remotely like Rachel's description of it. Finn shrugged.

"It's not in Lima, really. It's between Lima and Westerville. It's just a clearing that I found when I was in high school. I've never really told anyone about it except for Kurt, and I took Rachel there last night for our date." Finn responded after swallowing a bite of scrambled eggs.

"That's sweet, honey." Carole commented, smiling when Rachel nodded in agreement and kissed Finn on the cheek.

"Very romantic." Blaine agreed, nodding in sync with Rachel.

"And to think that you told me you hated romantic comedies; you're living one!" Kurt announced happily, smiling at Finn, who grinned back.

* * *

"What are we doing today?" Blaine asked Burt and Carole once he had placed all of the family's plates into the dishwasher.

"I'm not too sure, yet. Burt and I don't have to go back to work until the day after you guys leave. What do you want to do?" Carole replied, looking at all of them. Rachel shrugged, turning to the boys. Kurt raised his eyebrows at Finn, who looked around at all of them.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say that we don't care what we do." Finn said, causing Kurt, Blaine and Rachel to nod in agreement.

"Alright. Good." Burt said as he entered the living room. "We're taking your little cousins to the zoo, Lux and Clover. Mary and Tom just called, they need a sitter and the kids want to go to the zoo." Blaine and Rachel clapped their hands eagerly, both loving children and the zoo at the same time. Finn exchanged a weary glance with Kurt, considering they knew the children quite well and they were not the angels that Blaine and Rachel were expecting.

"Honey, I know you and Rach love kids, but you need to watch your back. They are mischievous and clever and sneaky. I'm just warning you both." Kurt said once Carole and Burt left the room to gather snacks and the camera. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"How bad could they possibly be? They're children. How old are they?" Rachel asked. She wasn't going to take any warning very seriously; Kurt didn't have much patience, so the littlest things tended to get on his nerves, and Rachel assumed that was not an exception with children.

"Lux and Clover are my cousins. I've babysat them on multiple occasions, and Finn has always come with me. Once they turned 4, they turned into terrors. They're both 8 now, so prepare yourself." Kurt replied. Finn shuddered, heading to the bathroom to grab supplies.

"I think Blaine and I can handle a couple of kids. Finn, what on earth are you doing?" Rachel called as she heard a loud crash coming from the bathroom. Finn poked his head out of the doorway and looked at Kurt, a smile on his face.

"We haven't seen too much of Santana, we should invite her!" Finn said, his grin growing. Kurt clapped his hands.

"You're a genius. I'll call her, you just grab the stuff. Don't forget to pack the rope!" Kurt called to him, turning around and searching for his phone.

"Babe, do you call the little munchkins Lucifer and Clever? Is that your nickname for them? I knew that your horror stories sounded familiar. Santana watched them with you once, too, right? That's why you're calling her..." Blaine trailed off, joining the search for Kurt's phone. Rachel stared at all of them, beginning to think that she was the only sane one here.

"What is so horrible about 2 children?" Rachel demanded. Blaine stood up as Kurt raised his phone in the air victoriously.

"Lucifer and Clever, or Lux and Clover, are absolute nightmares. They are the embodiments of devils and are sneakier than anyone I have ever met. Santana is the only one who can control them, considering the pair are absolutely terrified of her and the fact that they sort-of-kind-of look up to her. She's like their role model, which is disturbing. Santana's only always cruel and mean around the children and doesn't show any of her good sides. She tried that in the beginning, from what Kurt's told me, but they got some kind of food in her hair and tried to lock her in the bathroom, so she pulled out all of her scary and used it on them." Blaine responded, his voice rushed and panicked.

"They got spaghetti in her hair. It was a mess and she was ready to kill them. By the time she was done threatening them, Lucifer looked terrified and Clover looked impressed. They've always shown Santana respect, since then." Kurt commented as he searched for Santana in his contact list. Rachel raised her eyebrows, growing a little concerned. If they were so freaked about two 8 year olds that they had to call Santana, the master of terrifying people when they needed to be scared, she should probably be preparing for the apocalypse.

"Don't worry, guys. Santana is coming with us, whether she wants to or not. I will physically drag her there. And, we can just ditch the spawn of Satan and Satan, herself, once we get there and everyone's settled." Finn announced, looking a lot more relaxed as he exited the bathroom, Rachel's bulging purse in his hand.

"That looks extremely heavy." Rachel commented, reaching for the bag. Finn shrugged, but held it out of her reach, smiling.

"It actually is pretty heavy, so I can handle it. I'll pass it on to Santana when we meet up with her." Finn said, noticing the confused look that crossed his girlfriend's face. Rachel smiled at him gratefully and kissed his cheek, briefly, before scurrying out of the room to put on sunscreen.

* * *

"Hello Lucif- I mean, Lux. I like your dress, Clover." Kurt told the twins, who stood 3 feet from him, smiling eerily politely.

Rachel took in their appearance and noted the resemblance to Kurt. They both had pale, porcelain-like skin and glasz eyes, and their hair was the same chestnut color. But, Clover's hair was extremely curly and Lux's nose was more pointed and profound. Lux smiled, sickeningly sweet at all of them, turning his gaze to Rachel and Blaine while his sister began to speak, in a voice that was a pitch slightly higher than Kurt's was as a child, from what Rachel could tell off of the old recordings she used to watch when Kurt got homesick.

"Hi, Kurtsie. Finnegan. Who's this?" Clover asked, batting her eyelashes at Rachel. Rachel smiled politely, despite her suspicions, and held out her hand.

"Hello! You must be Clover. I'm Rachel; Finn's girlfriend." Rachel said, still smiling. Burt and Carole smiled adoringly at the two children, who shook Rachel's hand politely and introduced themselves. When they were satisfied with their greeting, they turned towards Blaine. Rachel heard him gulp instantaneously, and sent him a reassuring smile.

"I'm Blaine. It's very nice to meet you two; Kurt's told me all about you." Blaine said, gaining his confidence back again. Lux stepped forward to shake Blaine's hand, sending him a polite smile. Blaine returned the smile, but shared a confused look at the courtesy of the children with Rachel, who returned the look.

When Burt and Carole left the room, the polite faces of the children disappeared, and they glared harshly at all four of them. Blaine and Rachel raised their eyebrows in shock of the difference.

"I told you not to call me Kurtsie." Kurt muttered, returning the glare. Blaine and Finn stifled laughter, earning them glares, as well.

"You went to call us Lucifer and Clever." Clover replied, flicking her hair behind her ear and studying her nails in boredom. Lux nudged his sister with his elbow and sent her a look that nobody could decipher except his twin. She nodded shortly and they both turned their glares to zero in on Rachel and Blaine.

Finn held out his hand to Rachel, who went to take it, but stopped when the gaze turned a little harsher and the children's eyes narrowed a little bit more.

"Will you please explain to me the reason why you two are glaring at our guests?" Finn asked the twins, annoyed at the lack of contact between him and Rachel.

"If I promise that we will do no bodily harm to them or lock them in a confined area or move from this spot, will you give Clover and I a minute alone with your 'guests'?" Lux asked, his gaze turning to Kurt and Finn. They both nodded reluctantly and exited the room. Clover stepped forward slightly, causing both of them to step back a little.

"Listen, hobbits. If you hurt Finnegan or Kurtsie, I will not hesitate to end you. We may hate them, but we don't _hate _them." Lux said, also stepping forward slightly. Blaine's eyes widened and Rachel immediately shook her head.

"I proposed to Kurt, we're getting married. I would never hurt him, you have my word." Blaine said. Rachel nodded in agreement.

"Finn is amazing, it isn't physically possible for me to allow myself to hurt him intentionally. I love him." Rachel stated. Blaine gasped slightly and Rachel realized what she had said, but didn't deny it. She turned towards Blaine slightly and smiled sheepishly. Blaine clapped excitedly for a moment before they both returned their looks to face Lux and Clover.

The twins were in a deep conversation, barely making any noise at all and staring intently at each other as they whispered rapidly. Neither Rachel nor Blaine could decipher what exactly they were saying, but when the twins turned back around, their gazes had softened significantly.

"Good. So, we've reached an agreement." Clover announced, nodding sharply. Rachel and Blaine nodded, too.

"You can come in now." Lux shouted to Finn and Kurt, who entered the room cautiously.

"Okay... Are you ready to go to the zoo?" Finn asked the twins, who had now relaxed a bit, but still looked like they were up to something. Rachel wondered if this is what Santana looked like in high school, and then realized that Santana still had a sneaky-look about her, 24/7.

"The zoo? Why, man-ape? Do you want to feel at home? Visiting some old relatives?" Lux asked, rolling his eyes. Finn ignored the comment as the doorbell rang, and Kurt jumped, eagerly scurrying to the door.

"Santana! Were you as hungover as I was yesterday? Do you remember anything?" Kurt asked, hugging Santana and opening the door a little wider to invite her inside.

"I don't remember anything. I woke up with a migrane. Now, my dear Porcelain, please tell me why you've brought me to your house for 'bonding,' whatever that means." Santana said. Lux and Clover's eyes lit up a little with a strange mixture of fear and admiration and they jumped from their seats on the couch, drawing Santana's attention. Her gaze grew a little harsher as she viewed the children, and Rachel assumed that this was what Santana normally looked like in high school.

She looked like she was a ticking time bomb.

"Lucifer and Clever. How _wonderful_ it is to see you. I take it we're going to some park in Loserville and I have to babysit the little brats." Santana said, her gaze turning to annoyance as she glanced at Finn, who shrugged sheepishly.

"Sorry, Tana. We didn't know what else to do." Finn replied. Kurt pulled on her arm a little, shooting her a pleading look. Blaine nodded at her, as if to say that he would make it up to her and Rachel gave Santana her best puppy eyes. Santana groaned and murmured an affirmative before stepping forward to face the children directly.

"It's been a while, demons. Where are they taking us?" Santana asked. Burt and Carole walked into the room a few seconds later, smiling and greeting Santana.

"Oh, hello Santana! Are you joining us on our trip to the zoo?" Carole asked, smiling sweetly. Santana murmured something about how her friends were the real baboons, but nodded politely.

"I am, actually. I hope I'm not intruding." Santana said apologetically.

"Of course not, dear! Is everyone ready to go?" Carole asked, directing most of her attention to Lux and Clover.

After everyone had nodded and grabbed their stuff, Rachel clasped her hand with Finn's and smiled softly at him.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Arghhh finally! I've been so busy and I've kind of been neglecting this chapter. Sorry, darlings! I'm moving next weekend, so I've been packing and stuff. I've also been pretty busy lately with my social life..**

**(Yes, I know, you're gasping because I have a social life)**

**Anyway, I will hopefully be updating this in 2 days:) **

**NEXT CHAPTER: zoo day:)**

**How do you guys like Lux and Clover? Too evil? Not enough?**

**REVIEWS ARE CANDY AND I NEED MORE.**

**I LOVE YOU GUYS:)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:**

**Oh my god. I might not get to publish this in time. Uh-oh.**

**I'm moving, so I probably won't get to update(or publish) this until next Tuesday or Wednesday or maybe even Thursday. Don't kill me, I love you, and I apologize in advance for the days that I won't be writing, due to lack of internet.**

**In other news, this will be a chapter on their visit to the zoo. Probably not too much on their trip to the zoo. I can't just sit here and write about animals; I prefer dialogue and stuffs. Probably a lot of family oriented stuff, too. Maybe some friend-time in there, as well. I think I'm going to establish a better Blaine-Rachel friendship. Maybe even a brotherly-bonding day for Finn and Kurt. But, there will be tons of family time, hopefully. They can't go to Lima to visit their family and then not actually visit with their family.**

**(BTW: I'm writing this to the tune of sappy love songs. I'm on Unchained Melody right now; the Glee version)**

**((BTWBTW: I'm obsessed with Adam Lambert and might use one of his songs in the future chapters.))**

* * *

As Rachel and Finn got out of the car, Rachel realized how nice it was outside, today. It was a fairly hot day, but not too unbearable; about 84 degrees with even cloud coverage. It wasn't too windy and the sky was a bright, vibrant blue.

Santana groaned as she passed them, Lux and Clover following closely behind her. Lux was staring at her like she was some kind of god and Clover was copying her every movement, as if memorizing Santana so that she could replicate her when she was on her own. Rachel snorted and nudged Blaine lightly, gesturing towards their "monkey see-monkey do" attitude. Blaine snickered.

"They really love Santana, don't they?" Blaine said, catching Kurt's attention. Kurt nodded and chuckled, shaking his head slightly.

"They always have, really. If Santana-ism was a religion, those kids would be the priests." Finn said, eliciting a giggle out of Rachel and a snort out of Blaine.

"Those kids would have written the fucking _bible_." Kurt added, grinning. Rachel giggled again.

"I wonder if they celebrate her birthday as a holiday." Rachel said. Finn snorted.

"Probably. They probably hang her picture in their rooms and pray to it, and then, every year on Santana's birthday, they decorate a tree with Santana's earrings and make human sacrifices to their Dark Princess." Finn replied. Kurt laughed loudly at this, drawing the children and Santana's attention.

"What are you laughing about, Twinkle Toes?" Clover asked, glaring. Lux narrowed his eyes at Kurt and Santana rolled her eyes at the twins.

"Probably something that the hobbit said. What animals are we going to see first, munchkins?" Santana asked, mussing up their hair. Lux grinned and pointed to a cage that was filled with exotic looking birds in a replica of a scene from a tropical rainforest.

"Birds? Whatever, let's just get this over with. How many exhibits are in this zoo?" Santana asked Kurt, flipping her hair back slightly as Clover mimicked her movements.

"I'm not too sure... I think about 35 or so." Kurt responded, clasping his hand with Blaine's and walking towards the bird exhibit. Santana groaned loudly at this and walked towards the bird exhibit, as well.

"It's going to be one long ass day." Santana muttered under her breath.

* * *

4 hours, 38 exhibits and many bottles of water later, they had seen every single exhibit in the zoo and were now ready to head home. Finn's stomach rumbled loudly and he rubbed it, feeling the full weight of his hunger. Burt's did the same as he was in the middle of a deep conversation with Blaine, distracting him temporarily.

"Am I the only hungry one?" Burt asked the group after he finished up his conversation with Blaine. Rachel shook her head and put her hand on her stomach. Santana groaned.

"I am starving. Let's grab some fast food or something." Santana said, sounding desperate. Her day had to have been the longest out of all of them. Lux and Clover had followed her everywhere she went, asking questions on her opinions about the animals or just random questions that had nothing to do with what they were originally talking about.

"No fast food!" Kurt shouted as a reflex. Blaine chuckled and wrapped his arm around Kurt's waist.

"Do you think you could spare us _one _dinner, Kurt? Please?" Finn begged, clutching his stomach. Kurt rolled his eyes but nodded hesitantly.

"But, tomorrow night, you are eating healthy." Kurt said, directing his statement at his father. Burt murmured something unintelligible back.

"So, what are we getting? McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, KFC, Taco Bell?" Rachel asked, smiling. Finn's eyes lit up.

"Let's get KFC!" Finn shouted, grinning. Blaine nodded eagerly and high fived Finn, causing both Rachel and Kurt to stare at their loved one's antics.

"KFC it is, then." Carole announced, smiling. Blaine and Finn fist-pumped and Kurt and Rachel both raised their eyebrows.

"I'm just letting you know that you're completely ridiculous." Rachel told Finn, smiling fondly. Finn grinned and leaned down to kiss her cheek.

"Thank you, babe." Finn replied, smiling his signature crooked grin. Rachel hid her blush as well as she could as they entered the car.

* * *

After eating at KFC, they headed back to the house for the rest of the day, all feeling quite tired. They would be leaving in 3 days to go back to New York City, but even the fact that they didn't have much time didn't inspire them to spend some quality family time together through their exhaustion. The fact was, that as much as they had tried to deal with the children's disobedience, but even Santana had grown impatient and weary with their presence.

"Are you as worn out as I am?" Blaine asked, nudging Finn slightly. Finn yawned loudly as he nodded, rubbing slightly at his eyes. Rachel had her head underneath Finn's arm, tucked against his chest as she slept, curling herself into him in a way that made Finn's heart do funny things. Blaine was in the opposite situation, Kurt sleeping and holding onto Blaine with such a tight grip that it made Finn chuckle lightly.

"I think they are, too." Finn said, gesturing towards his girlfriend and his brother with a laugh. Blaine nodded, letting out a chuckle of his own.

"Yeah, I'm guessing." Blaine replied, laughing slightly again.

As they pulled into the driveway, Finn shook Rachel's shoulder in an attempt to wake her up. Rachel furrowed her eyebrows in her sleep, snuggling closer to Finn and tightening her grip. Finn chuckled fondly at her and shook her again, a little more forcefully. This time she startled a little, but didn't loosen her grip on him as she woke up.

"Did I fall asleep?" Rachel asked after she was a little more awake. Kurt, who was now awake, responded.

"You didn't snore, if that's what you're worried about. Blaine would have complained about it to me the moment I woke up." Kurt said. Blaine stuck his tongue out at his fiancé and opened the car door.

Carole had driven them all home as Burt dropped off Lux and Clover at their mother's house. Santana had decided to grab a ride with Brittany so that they could talk a little bit more, something that Rachel had suggested in an effort to make her roommate happy.

"Thank god." Rachel muttered to Kurt, who was climbing out of the car. Finn turned towards her, smiling softly.

"Are you still tired? I'm exhausted." Finn said, following Rachel as she got out of the car. Rachel nodded sleepily and leaned into him as they walked into the house and up the stairs to their room.

"I'm so sleepy." Rachel murmured, collapsing onto Finn's bed. Finn smiled at her fondly as she closed her eyes and went to get changed into more comfortable clothing. When he returned, he had expected Rachel to already be back to her sleeping state, but found the girl sitting up slightly, looking uncomfortable.

"What's wrong, baby?" Finn asked as he settled into the bed next to her. Rachel blushed a little and turned away.

"It's stupid." She responded, taking her hair out of it's ponytail. It had gotten so hot at the zoo that she was forced to pull it up so that it was off of her neck. Finn frowned and took her hands, making Rachel face him.

"Tell me." Finn demanded gently. Rachel blushed again and pulled one of her hands away to play with the threads of the blanket and muttering something that Finn couldn't hear. Finn put on his confused face and looked at her again, forcing her to repeat it, slightly louder.

"I can't sleep unless you're next to me." Rachel said, her face completely flushed as she flopped over on the bed and turned away from him. Finn smiled at her, even though she couldn't see, as his heart jumped in his chest and he felt compelled to take her in his arms. So, that's what he did.

Rachel squeaked in surprise as Finn pulled her towards him as they were lying on the bed, kissing her softly and passionately and wrapping his arms around her waist. As their lips finally parted from each other, Finn pressed his forehead against Rachel's and smiled at her. Rachel's blushing had died down, but at his crooked smile, she flushed further.

"What was that for?" Rachel asked after a moment. Finn's crooked grin grew a little before he responded.

"That was for you being adorable." Finn replied, kissing her again and closing his eyes as he drifted to sleep. Rachel stared at him for a moment before wrapping herself around him and following his lead, falling asleep quickly and dreaming of Finn and summer air.

It had been a long day, that was for sure. But the ending to their day was absolutely perfect.

* * *

**I knew I would never update this on time. It's Tuesday. I started writing this Friday, actually, but my power got turned off and I didn't get my WiFi back until today.**

**I'm moved into my new house, by the way. **

**Also, to any Klainers, I put up a cute little one-shot in my spare time. It's called Eternity, but if you just click on my username, you should find it. **

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter! **

**(HUGE SURPRISE SOON, BY THE WAY.)**

**(PREPARE TO SQUEAL LOUDLY OR GASP IN SHOCK)**

**(OR BOTH)**

**(PROBABLY BOTH)**

**I love you.**

**I'll love you even more if you review.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:**

**I'm so fucking late on this.**

**SORRY, DARLINGS. **

**Been super busy and actually got *gulps* writers block for this until today, when a beautiful idea screamed at me.**

* * *

Rachel sat up the next morning, Finn's arms secured tightly around her waist as his head nudged deeper into her shoulder as he tried to subconsciously pull her back to her laying position. She giggled under her breath slightly, but untangled herself from him. Rachel needed to get ready for the rest of the day, and if she was sharing a bathroom with Kurt, unless they both woke up at the crack of dawn, one of them was going to have to rush through their morning routine.

Rachel sighed happily to herself as she entered the shower, the warm water pounding against her skin. She was glad that her plan had seemed to have worked its magic on Kurt and Blaine's tension after the shooting. They seemed to be completely back to normal.

Today, Rachel was going out with Quinn, Tina, Mercedes and Blaine to shop and have lunch and bond. Finn was going with Kurt, Puck, Mike and Artie to hang out and talk. Rachel smiled to herself at the fact that Finn worked in some brotherly bonding time, as well as bonding time with his best friends. Rachel knew that Kurt didn't always feel so included with the guys, so she was proud to see Finn arranging time to make him feel more welcome.

Rachel finished her hair and makeup an hour and a half later, glancing at the clock to see that it was 9:00 in the morning; she still had an hour(at least) until Finn woke up. Smiling at this, she skipped down the stairs, her mood nothing less than carefree, and started making breakfast. Carole was sitting in the kitchen, reading a magazine and sipping on a coffee. Blaine was awake, as well, and Rachel heard the shower go on and the sound of Teenage Dream playing loudly, so she knew that Kurt had woken up by now, too.

"Oh, hello dear! You don't have to make breakfast, I can make it in a few minutes." Carole said as Rachel grabbed ingredients from the fridge. Rachel smiled and shook her head.

"That's okay, Carole. Really, I want to!" Rachel responded cheerily. Carole smiled and Blaine looked over the counter to see what Rachel was making.

"Are you making your sausage and gravy with biscuits?" Blaine asked excitedly. Rachel nodded, not looking up from the bowl of ingredients. Blaine smiled.

"Finn's going to ask you to marry him once he tastes them, you know." Blaine informed Rachel sarcastically. Even though it was a joke, Rachel beamed inwardly at the idea of marrying Finn one day. The future seemed so bright that it nearly stung her eyes.

"I'm excited to hang out with everyone later. Are we still going to dinner with everyone else after shopping and stuff?" Rachel asked as she watched the food that she was cooking. Blaine nodded, taking a sip of his coffee before answering.

"Yeah, it's going to be our one last hurrah together before we head back to New York. I'm going to miss them, actually. A lot." Blaine said, his eyes growing slightly misty. He blinked the emotion away and turned back to his coffee, a slight smile on his lips. Rachel was about to say something else when she heard loud footsteps clambering through the 2nd floor of the house and the timer went off for breakfast.

As Rachel prepared his plate, Finn stumbled into the kitchen, smiling sleepily and pressing a lazy kiss to Rachel's cheek before sitting down beside Blaine.

"G'morning." Finn said, making himself a cup of coffee and perking up slightly as Rachel set his plate in front of him.

"Sausage, gravy and biscuits. She made it for me once. It's so good, Finn. I swear, she got the recipe straight from God himself." Blaine said, grinning widely as Rachel set a plate in front of him, as well. Finn nodded happily before taking a bite and moaning loudly, eliciting a blush from Rachel at how the noise reminded her of something that she should not have been thinking about with Finn's mother in the room.

"I think we should elope." Finn announced as he shoveled more food into his mouth. Blaine, his mouth as full as Finn's was, pointed at him and looked at Rachel.

"I told you!" Blaine said after he swallowed what was in his mouth. "I knew he was going to say something like that! A key to a man's heart is food."

Rachel was about to make a witty remark in response, but she was surprised to hear more footsteps coming down the stairs. Kurt wasn't usually ready until at least 11, but in he strolled, dressed in a casual pair of jeans and a Marc Jacobs sweatshirt at 10:00 in the morning. Rachel gaped.

"What?" Kurt asked, taking in her shocked look. Rachel gestured towards his outfit and stuttered.

"Oh, please, Rachel. I'm hanging out with a bunch of guys today; I don't need to look like I stepped off of a catwalk. We'll end up lounging around here as I kick their asses at COD, so what's the point in looking as handsome as I always do?" Kurt asked, plopping down on a stool in the kitchen and grabbing a plate of food that was meant to be Carole's.

* * *

After they had all eaten breakfast and gotten ready, Rachel and Blaine kissed their partners goodbye and headed to meet Quinn, Mercedes and Tina at the mall. Rachel silently congratulated herself on her outfit after receiving compliments from each of the girls on her striped sundress with the matching blue cardigan and white sandals. She had opted to put her hair in a side-braid today, and also received a few compliments on that. Kurt would be proud of her.

Finn, Kurt, Puck, Mike and Artie were all sitting in Puck's living room, staring at his flatscreen television and cursing at each other. The ones who had died already were in the middle of a conversation, but stalled it at times to high five their teammate or flip off their opponents. Kurt and Puck were still alive, but Finn had been killed a few minutes ago, so he was chatting with Artie as his teammates dodged bullets from Mike.

"So, how serious are you about Rachel?" Artie asked. Finn was glad that he and Artie had become such good friends; Artie was a brutally honest person, but Finn found it to be a useful trait when he wanted a straight answer or question.

"I'm very serious about Rachel, actually. More serious than I've been with anyone else. Even when Quinn had that pregnancy scare and I thought I was in love with that foreign exchange student, I've never actually wanted to see a future with them. But with Rachel, I feel like I could plan out everything." Finn answered honestly. That was another good thing about Artie; he never made fun of anyone for being too emotional or mushy. Artie was a serious, sophisticated person underneath everything. He was, in a way, the glue of all of the friendships.

"Good. I think she's pretty serious about you, too." Artie replied. Finn was about to respond when he was cut off by a slew of cusses exiting Puck's mouth in a yell.

"I fucking hate you, Chang." Puck growled, throwing a glare at Mike who merely shrugged and went back to playing the game. Kurt chuckled.

"Nice going, Puckerman. Looks like I'll have to finish him off by myself. God, you're a fucking idiot sometimes. Couldn't you see his target? We have Airplane Mode on!" Kurt exclaimed, not looking up from the television. Puck glared at Kurt for a few minutes, but seeing as Kurt was distracted and that it didn't phase him in the slightest, he turned it on Finn.

"You must have taught him lessons or some shit. This is horseshit. Thank fucking God that he's on my team, but I'm still shocked that he can kill all of us with no practice. You must be practicing daily. Even Blaine can't beat him, and that's saying something, considering he uses his fucking puppy eyes and makes us feel like we have to _let _him win. Not that he couldn't kick all of our asses." Puck muttered, glaring at Finn harshly who let out a guffaw.

"Kurt only plays video games with all of you guys or when we come back home. We don't have an Xbox at the apartment and I don't think he'd waste his time with this shit anyways. I sure as hell am not teaching him. He kicks my ass every single time we play, I don't need to be teaching him, he should be teaching me. And Blaine is a little shit. If they paired up and faced all of the guys from the football team and everyone in this room, they would still kick the shit out of us in Xbox." Finn responded. Kurt grinned devilishly at Puck before turning back to the game and defeating Mike, ending the game completely.

"You should see Rachel play; her cousin came to visit earlier last year and he brought his Xbox. I didn't play, but I watched as she learned the controls and then proceeded to murder them at their own game." Kurt commented offhandedly. Puck grinned at this and clapped his hand on Finn's shoulder.

"Maybe instead of getting lessons from Kurtsie, you could get some private lessons from Rachel." Puck said, waggling his eyebrows in a way that was supposed to be perceived as sexual, but just looked like he was a cartoon character from SpongeBob. Either way, Finn blushed slightly at the idea of being 'taught a lesson' by Rachel. They had had sex before, but to be kinky was an entirely different adventure that Finn hadn't thought about before, but now that he had, the idea couldn't get loosened from it's death grip on is brain and his groin. Thankfully, Kurt interrupted Finn's thoughts before they could lead to an uncomfortable situation.

"I'm fucking starving from kicking all of your asses at COD. Let's order a pizza. Make it a meat lovers." Kurt ordered. This didn't come as a surprise to Finn or any of the other boys. Kurt always ate extremely unhealthy when he was with them and they were just lounging around. Finn had the prediction that his casual eating habits arrived only when Kurt was dressed in casual clothing, was in McKinley, was completely sick, or was surrounded by men who stunk and swore and ate like pigs.

"That sounds good. Get some wings, too!" Puck added, earning a high five from Kurt.

"Yes, I haven't had wings since I got drunk with Santana and we got super fucking hungry." Kurt said, grinning as Artie switched the game back on, challenging Kurt again.

"You and Finn versus me, Puck, Mike and one computer enemy." Artie said, daringly. Kurt lookedd over to Finn, who shrugged.

"Why not? I'm always the first or second one dead anyway." Finn replied, shrugging. It was an act, the getting killed before the first 3 minutes; Kurt had taught Finn every trick that he had learned earlier this morning and now Finn was practically as amazing at the game as Kurt was.

"Awesome. Bring it, bitches." Mike said, setting up the round to take place in Nuketown. Finn spoke up.

"Hey, you should enable the dogs instead of the Airplane Mode. Makes it more interesting and less sneaky." Finn commented. Mike nodded and switched the settings.

This should be fun.

* * *

This was fun.

That was all Rachel could think to sum up the shopping spree that she had with the girls and Blaine at the mall. They all exited the mall carrying at least 4 bags each and were giggling about a story that Tina was telling them about her younger brother.

As they walked across the parking lot to go to the restaurant, Rachel let her thoughts wander to Finn. She thought about how much time they had spent together and how strong of a bond that she had grown with him and sighed happily to herself. She thought about the way he smiled and how it brought butterflies to her stomach in a way that she had never felt before.

"You're thinking about Finn, aren't you?" Blaine asked, gaining her attention and shaking her out of her Finn-filled thoughts. Rachel blushed.

"Am I that obvious?" Rachel asked. Blaine smiled and nodded.

"It's good to be that obvious. I would have heart eyes for hours when I thought nobody was paying attention. It just means that you've stumbled across something very special." Blaine explained, smiling warmly at Rachel. Quinn snorted.

"You stumbled across love, is what he's trying to say. Blainers just needs to spit it out already. You love him." Quinn stated. It wasn't in a questioning tone, it was completely confident. Rachel felt her face heat up monumentally.

"We haven't said that yet. It's too early." Rachel murmured, talking to herself more than anyone. She really didn't want to freak Finn out by saying such a serious thing way too fast.

* * *

"You keep telling yourself that, Finn, but I see the way she looks at you. She loves you." Kurt said, matter-of-factly. Finn sighed slightly. They had been having this conversation for a little over 15 minutes now and Finn could feel his brain start to contemplate the idea of telling her.

"Seriously bro, if you don't tell her that you love her, I'm going to tell her that you love her, but I'm going to use a sexual innuendo until she figures it out. That's not too romantic, last time I checked." Puck interjected. Artie nodded in agreement and Finn let out an exasperated sigh.

"Fine. But if I tell her and she flips out or dumps me, I'm going to be crashing here for a few weeks or months or years. I haven't felt like this about anyone. I can't fuck this up." Finn said.

* * *

"You won't mess it up, I swear. He loves you, I know he does. He's never looked at anyone else like that. I used to be Finn's girlfriend, you know. He never had a sparkle in his eye like he does with you. He never looked so amazingly ecstatic by a simple brush of the fingertips. Never did he act so content with his life, like all of his problems were nonexistent." Quinn stated. Rachel sighed again, a little less wearily and a little more dreamily.

"Really?" Rachel asked timidly. Mercedes nodded vigorously and Tina smiled encouragingly at her. Blaine swallowed what was in his mouth and turned to Rachel, taking her hands.

"Look, Rach. Finn and I are pretty much brothers. I'm one of his close friends and we talk about tons of random shit together. Ever since you two have started going out, he rarely even pays attention anymore. He gushes about you in the weirdest way, he sighs like a teenager anytime that anyone ever mentions your name in a casual conversation and I can hear him moaning your name in the shower. Well, granted, you were in there with him, but he was doing that before you two were active." Blaine said, ignoring the embarrassed blush that painted Rachel's face red.

"Alright. So, I'll tell him. But, when?" Rachel asked.

* * *

"Make it super romantic." Puck suggested to Finn, who nodded.

* * *

"Wait for him to make a super sweet gesture and say it when the time feels right." Tina interjected. Rachel smiled and inwardly took notes.

* * *

"Just, make sure you're as honest as you can be about it. She really loves musicals and sappy romantic movies, so if you watch one of those the night before and try to recreate the scene and the honesty by adding some of your own things in with it, she'll fall into your arms." Kurt explained to Finn.

* * *

"Say it with as much emotion as you can and don't be too hesitant. Don't be cocky or too straight-forward, either, but don't look like you regret saying it, even if he has a meltdown. Show that you are confident." Mercedes instructed.

* * *

"Never doubt yourself, Finn."

* * *

"But,"

* * *

"Most importantly,"

* * *

"Mean it when you say it."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**OHHH YAYYY ROMANTIC SCENERY IS ROMANTIC**

**I CAN'T WAIT FOR NEXT CHAPTER. **

**Again, I apologize for taking so long to update.**

**I love you guys! **

**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I'm writing this WAY too late and I apologize. I got caught up in a lot of other things and I have been neglecting this. Far too long.**

* * *

It was happening. Finn was doing this and he was doing it right. In all honesty, Finn didn't think he should be so nervous about this, but it _was_ a huge commitment and turning point in their relationship that represented forever and- okay, maybe it was something to be nervous about. Other people may say things early, but when Finn commits and opens himself up to someone, it's a big deal and is not to be taken lightly. After dating Rachel for quite some time now, Finn realized that she was the same way.

Therefore, yes, Finn was freaking out a little.

Shaking himself out of his inner thoughts, Finn nodded his head determinedly and got ready for dinner. Finn was taking Rachel to the most expensive restaurant that he could afford and was planning on taking her for a walk in Central Park after eating. Finn walked into his bedroom and headed towards his closet, remembering the outfit that Kurt and Blaine had picked out for him earlier that day. It was simple enough for Finn, but nice enough for the restaurant. Kurt had picked out the shirt and the major aspects of the outfit while Blaine did the accessories and the things that would make it more laid back and Finn-like.

Finn looked in the mirror after getting dressed and grinned a little. He was dressed in a white-and-black pinstriped shirt underneath a dark blue cotton jacket that buttoned across so that they hid the zipper. He was wearing his favorite dark-washed jeans that Kurt approved of with a white belt that had black designs on it, one of his favorites that Blaine had found in the depths of his closet. Finn also had on his new black Nike sneakers and his favorite pair of Aviators that Blaine had found in his closet. Blaine also persuaded Kurt out of forcing Finn to wear a scarf and a hat, which Finn was thankful for.

Finn brushed his hair down and then gelled it up a little, and then brushed it to the side, and let out a frustrated groan. Kurt overheard his brother's frustration and made his way over to Finn, sighing.

"You will never learn how to make yourself look presentable, will you?" Kurt scolded, but the slight smirk on his face took away the barb in his voice. Finn grinned sheepishly and gestured towards his hair.

"Never. Do you think you could do it for me?" Finn asked.

"You'll have to sit down, Frankenteen." Kurt said, chuckling as he took out some gel and hairspray from his pocket, shoving Finn down with his arm so that the taller boy was seated.

"Alright, now hold still. If I mess this up and end up using all of my hair gel, you're buying me some more. And this stuff is more expensive than the rent on this apartment." Kurt said, fixing his brother's hair. Finn raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"No, but it's 63 dollars and I don't think you can really afford that."

* * *

A few blocks away, Rachel was frantically searching through the clothes in her closet. She had been trying to find the perfect outfit for the past hour and every time she tried calling Kurt, he would text her back saying that he was helping Finn. She was losing her mind. Rachel could _not_ look bad for tonight; tonight was the night that she was telling Finn that she loved him. Tonight would change everything.

A knock on the apartment door shook Rachel out of her thoughts.

"Come in," Rachel shouted from her closet. "I'm in the bedroom."

"Do you need- whoa. It looks like you were robbed or something, Rach. Need any help?" Blaine asked as he walked through the door to Rachel's bedroom. There were multiple articles of clothing that coated the floor near the closet. Rachel was sitting in the middle of the heaps, pulling out random things and assessing them.

"I need help." Rachel announced, feeling overwhelmed. Blaine nodded and plopped himself next to Rachel with a grin, picking up a few things and looking at them.

"Where's that yellow dress?" Blaine asked after a few moments of looking at the mountains of clothing. Rachel raised her eyebrows and held up the 13 yellow dresses that she owned. Blaine took one out, as well as finding random jewelry and shoes to make an outfit.

"Here." Blaine said, smiling and laying out the things that he gathered onto Rachel's bed. Rachel stood up and examined them. When she turned to Blaine, she was beaming.

"Thank you so much! I was so frustrated and nervous and I had no clue what to wear." Rachel said, a wave of relief flooding through her. Blaine just nodded and waved, indicating that he was leaving.

"Wear a nude lipgloss and champagne eyeshadow. Don't go too heavy on the eyeliner, but enough to make your eyes pop. Shimmery blush would work the best and define your eyebrows, but not too much. Don't make them stick out, but color them in slightly. If you use bronzer, only use it on your cheekbones and blend it with the blush." Blaine said, waving again. Rachel smiled and nodded.

"Thank you. Are you leaving?"

"My work is done here. Besides, I need to go help Finn and Kurt. I don't want Kurt trying to put your boyfriend in a scarf and a hat again."

Rachel waved and smiled as Blaine exited the apartment and went over to put on her outfit. She was wearing her favorite bright yellow, one-shouldered dress with the cinched waist. Her shoes were a shimmery champagne color and her clutch matched her shoes perfectly. She was wearing shimmery, dangly earrings and her hair was loose and curly. Rachel smiled when she saw the ring that Blaine picked out. It was one that her Papa and Daddy gave to her when she was a senior in high school. It was real rose gold and crafted to look like a rose-gold daisy crown that twisted around her finger. Pleased with her outfit, Rachel headed to the bathroom to fix her makeup.

* * *

Finn beamed when he caught sight of his girlfriend as she strolled out of her apartment and into the car. Right when Rachel sat down, Finn leaned across the small amount of space between them and kissed her gently.

"You look beautiful." Finn said softly. Rachel blushed profusely and intertwined their hands, taking in his appearance as Finn drove towards the restaurant.

"So do you. It's a little different, but it's still you. I like the colors that Kurt picked out." Rachel said, grinning.

"What? You don't think I can dress myself?" Finn said playfully. Rachel scoffed.

"Please. I _know_ you can't dress yourself. I have seen your casual outfits and your closet, remember? You own _way _too much plaid and flannel."

"Look who's talking, kitten sweater!"

"My nana got me that sweater, thank you." Rachel replied, giggling despite herself.

"Rachel, my grandma bought me a Blue's Clues shirt last Christmas. I threw it away immediately."

"I like my kitten sweater."

"It _meows_."

"It's quite talkative, I agree."

"I always find it funny when you insult my fashion, considering you own a _kitten sweater_ that _meows_ and _plays music_. Has Kurt seen it?"

"No, and he never will. I don't want him burning a nice sweater."

"I feel like the sweater is going to become possessed and kill Santana in her sleep or something."

"The strangest things run through your mind, I swear."

"You love it."

"I do."

Rachel blushed at the mention of the word love, but hid it by looking out the window and humming to the song on the radio. Finn turned pale as he thought about how nervous he was, once again, but his complexion was normal after a few seconds and Rachel didn't notice, as she was still busy hiding her own skin.

After parking the car, Rachel looked up from the window to see where they were eating and gaped.

"This is the most expensive restaurant on this side of town!" Rachel exclaimed, smiling brightly at Finn, most of her nerves forgotten. Finn shot her his crooked grin and laughed a little.

"Only the best for you." Finn replied. Rachel blushed and stepped out of the car, meeting up with Finn so they could walk in together.

Once inside the restaurant, Finn turned to the greeter - one of Blaine's college friends from his music course last year - and smiled politely.

"Reservations for Hudson?"

"Of course! Right this way," The man replied, smiling and leading them to a table near the back.

The restaurant was fairly quiet, something that Rachel enjoyed. She felt it was more intimate and would offer up the perfect time to say what she needed to say. Then again, maybe she should just wait until after dinner. If she tells him here and he doesn't feel the same, the dinner would be awkward and it costs a lot to make reservations here. So, Rachel decided to tell him on the way home. Not in the car, but after they reached Rachel's apartment.

On the other side of the table, pretending to look through the menu, Finn was internally freaking out. Once the waiter came over and introduced himself, asking them if they wanted anything to drink and suggesting some ridiculously expensive brand of wine, Finn just nodded yes and went back to freaking out. Rachel was staring at him with impressed shock that he could afford it, but he wasn't paying too much attention to that. He was too worried about what was to come.

The dinner went by faster than either of them had expected it to. They actually got back into the usual flow of conversation within a few minutes after receiving their food, and they talked almost the entire time about random things that were going on with everyone and telling stories to each other about their high school days.

It was the after-dinner thing that had Finn worried, and the ride back that had Rachel worried. So, after they were done eating and Finn paid for the food, internally cringing at the prices and thanking Kurt for lending him that extra twenty for the tip, the awkwardness was back and the tension was palpable.

"Are we going home?" Rachel asked as they stepped out of the restaurant. She needed to know if she should prepare herself or not. Finn shook his head.

"I was hoping that we could go on a walk in Central Park. It's not too far away." Finn said, biting his lip. Rachel nodded.

"Of course! It's beautiful out tonight." Rachel said, looking around. Finn nodded.

"It really is."

When Rachel turned her head back to him, she flushed, taking his hand in hers. As their fingers intertwined, she pulled their clasped hands up and traced pattern's on Finn's absentmindedly, smiling slightly and looking at the sky. In that moment, that moment where Rachel looked so happy and carefree, effortlessly beautiful as she was, Finn decided that he couldn't hold it in any longer. He stopped walking, realizing that they were only a few feet from the turn to take to get to Central Park and glancing at the tree beside him, memorizing the sidewalk and it's unique qualities for when/if he told their children this story when they were older, and he pulled Rachel so that she was facing him. Her brown eyes showed confusion, and Finn tucked a piece of hair behind Rachel's ear before saying anything.

"I love you." Finn whispered, a hopeful look on his features. Rachel gasped, and for a moment, Finn thought that this would be the end of them, that Rachel wasn't that serious yet. Just as he was about to pull away and turn around or apologize, he felt Rachel's hands wrap around his neck as she pulled him in, kissing him passionately.

"I love you, too. I was going to tell you tonight, but you did it first, and I was so worried..." Rachel trailed off after pulling away a few minutes later. Finn felt all of the weight that had been on his shoulders disintegrate and he smiled, feeling lighter than air.

"I was going to tell you when we got to Central Park, but I couldn't hold it in. You just looked so beautiful and it seemed like the right time, so I just said it." Finn said. Rachel kissed his cheek softly and took his hand in hers again, leading him towards the car.

"I love you." Rachel said, smiling.

"I love you, too."

* * *

**A/N: That really shouldn't have taken that long and I apologize. Stupid finals and stupid school. Oh well, I get out tomorrow. I should be writing more often, now. **

**I'll update this as soon as possible.**

**PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING!**

**I love you all:)**


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